A Potter and A Malfoy?
by Forever.a.LostDreamer
Summary: Story about the relation ship of Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy
1. The Beginning

A.N. - I fell in love with this couple since I read the epilogue like forever ago. I hope you enjoy, I don't own anything, and I wanted to submit this finished, but I wanted to get it up

The Beginning

Albus Severus waved to his father for as long as he could as the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station. The boy sighed and went to find a compartment to sit in. He wandered around and saw Rose walking around as well. She smiled at her cousin happily. "Hey Al, calm down" She said to Albus as she passed. Albus saw her slip into a compartment that was filled with girls. He was glad she had friends, or at least people to hang out with. He on the other hand knew no one outside of his family. Albus began contemplating what the next year would be like and every fear he had crept up in his mind too quickly. He was snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed a hand waving in front of his face.

"You awake in there Potter?" A voice asked him. The young Potter scowled at them for calling him as "Potter".

"No" Albus responded to him flatly, hoping his answer would make the blond boy in front of him leave. "Who are you?" He asked skeptically seeing as the kid did not leave and seemed rather un-phased.

"Malfoy, Scorpius" He said with dignity and extended a hand toward Albus. His bright green eyes blinked at it and he then shook it in return.

"I've heard about your family." Albus said warily and it made even more sense to him as to why he would refer to him as "Potter". The resemblance between Albus and his father was amazingly frightening sometimes to the youth. Scorpius rolled his eyes at Albus' comment and started walking away, Albus watched him, and then Scorpius stopped.

Scorpius turned around to face the youngest son of the Potter family, his steel like eyes staring at him interested. "Come on" He said simply and Albus walked up to him and followed the pale boy. He opened a compartment door and gestured for Albus to enter. He took the offer greatly and slipped inside and Scorpius followed promptly. To Albus' surprise it was empty besides the two of them. He thought someone like a Malfoy would have had many friends and maybe even followers by now. "Are you mental or something?" He asked. Albus couldn't tell if he was joking or being rude and sarcastic so he just frowned at him. The young blond shrugged and patted the spot next to him on the seat. Albus also accepted this offer and sat down lightly by the window. "What's wrong?" He asked quietly and the raven haired boy looked over at him.

"Nothing, why" He responded, very confused.

"You're tense, and I found you close to frozen standing in the hallway." Scorpius replied simply and motioned up and down the body of boy next to him. Albus sighed and looked down.

"I'm worried about where I'll be sorted, afraid I won't be able to make any good friends, and who knows what else just because I'm the spitting image of my dad." Albus explained his hands clenching into fists. Scorpius nodded.

"I know what you mean" He mused staring straight ahead. Albus looked over at him taken aback.

"Scorpius" He said a bit caught off at how it seemed to roll of his tongue.

"Yeah you're probably confused, right?" Albus nodded his reply. "The Malfoy name and family is very prestigious in what it does and in the wizarding world. I have a name to uphold, certain people to befriend whether or not I like them, I'm expected to be outstanding, and I must always be courteous, except toward mudbloods. I have to become the next fitful heir to our family and I must be able to uphold the legacy, as they all call it, of our name." Albus bit his bottom lip.

"You're mellower than I expected." Albus confided. Scorpius let out a harsh laugh.

"You are not as outgoing or profound as I thought you would be." Scorpius shot back.

"Now you are confusing me with my older brother James." Albus said grinning.

"How many of you guys are there?" Scorpius asked astounded.

"Three" Albus replied and shrugged. "The third is my little sister Lily; she is two years younger than I am." He continued.

"On that note, who are you, besides being a Potter kid?" Scorpius asked.

Albus glared over at him a spark flaring in his emerald eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be courteous." He shot.

"I'm supposed to be, that doesn't mean I always am." He slightly sneered.

"I can tell you are going to be a Slytherin." Albus said his voice cold.

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"Not much, just a truth on character." Albus said and bit his tongue immediately. "Sorry, I've got my mom's mouth." He said quietly. "She doesn't think highly of your family or Slytherins for that matter either and it sort of rubbed off a bit. I'm sorry, I'm being a prick." Scorpius chuckled.

"You are a character; I wish the sorting hat good luck with you Potter." He said through his laughing.

"Quit calling me Potter, my name is Albus Severus" He said.

"Severus"

"Yeah, one of Hogwarts' old head masters. My dad told me he was noble and conflicted also informed me he was a Slytherin." Albus explained.

"I know that, it just surprised me a bit is all. Albus Severus" Scorpius iterated. "Can I shorten that?" He asked. "It is a mouthful."

"Sure, most people call me Albus or Al" He informed. "Hey, I like your name and it sort of rolls of my tongue but it can get kind of long after a while" He paused, and looked down bashfully.

"You want to call me by another name?" Scorpius asked. Albus only nodded. "If you want, but nothing cutesy"

"Alright then, how about Scorp" He offered and the boy frowned. "Hey if you don't like it I can't be cutesy, I have a little sister so I know all about it."

"If you get cutesy on me I'll get all cutesy on you." Al snorted at the thought of Scorpius being cute. He could imagine the boy bending over in a pink frilly skirt or dress and looking back innocently and batting his eyes with a sweet smile on his face. "What" The blond said quickly. Al covered his mouth to muffle his laughter. Scorpius raised his eyebrow and pounced on the laughing boy causing both of them to fall to the floor. Al squawked at the sudden attack. Scorpius then yanked his hands away from his mouth. "What?" He questioned his voice quiet and eyes sharp, but curious. Albus grinned up at him, knowing he would get hit if Scorpius knew the reason for his fit of laughter. "Spill" He paused "Alby" he dragged out and smiled sweetly at Albus who blushed and looked at the nearest wall.

"I think you would hit me if you knew" Albus said.

"Try me"

"You're going to have to beg me before I even get the thought of telling you" Albus taunted before he even realized what that might incur him to go through.

"Is that a challenge?" Scorpius asked. Al smirked at him, his green eyes sparkled mischievously. Scorpius returned a devious look and his steel eyes glinted in return to the glowing emeralds he watched keenly. "Alby, oh dearest Alby" He said, smiling cutely at Albus. "Please tell me what you found so funny. It would mean so much to me. Please, pretty, pretty please." Albus blinked and bit his tongue as the image from earlier flooded into his mind, along with just a few others. Scorpius narrowed his eyes, realizing that he would have to do a lot more to get the raven haired boy to talk. So he bent over him, very low, almost kissing him.

"Ok, fine, fine!" Albus said quickly while fighting back a blush.

"Oh, but I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do" Scorpius cooed at him.

"Scorp" He whined. The boy above him smirked in triumph.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" He blurted and made to sit up, but Scorpius didn't move, and leaving them only centimeters between them. "Are you trying to torture me?" He questioned. Ignoring how close they were and how he could hear two different heartbeats, one fast and irregular, the other slower, more calm.

"Torture" Scorpius said and blinked a few times innocently. "Not knowing is just down right torture to me."

"I'm going to tell you, just back up" He pleaded with his platinum haired friend and placed two hands on his chest and tried pushing him up, but Scorpius was firm in where he was.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" He asked, dragging out this situation as much as he could. Albus huffed and let his head collide with the floor. He was sure to keep his eyes focused on the ceiling and determined to ignore the boy who was just inches away from his face.

"I saw you in some frilly skirt, bending over like some adorable little girl batting your eyes and smiling all innocently and stuff." He muttered and could no longer hold back the blush. Scorpius went bright red, and the two stayed there, neither of them looking at each other. There was a slight knock on the door and they both froze.

Their compartment door slid open and hen Albus heard an all too familiar yell of "Merlin's Pants! What in the ancient name of Godric Gryffindor is going on!" Still neither of them answered. "Albus!" He yelled and he coughed to let the intruder know he was certainly in there and alive.

"Your brother" Scorpius asked tentatively. Albus nodded, and was so glad that James could not see Scorpius' face.

"I'll give you to the count of three to get off my brother dirt bag" James said. "One, two, three" He said before either of them could come up with something to say. James strode over and yanked Scorpius up by the back of the shirt to a standing position. "Keep your filthy, overly sexual hands off of my brother" James hissed into Scorpius' ear.

"Forgive me, but he wasn't putting up any complaints." Scorpius sneered. James' eyes widened in fury and spun Scorpius around to face him.

"Look you little punk" He froze realizing it was a Malfoy. "Malfoy" He spat and shoved him.

Scorpius stared at him with cold, unforgiving eyes. "I swear if you touch him again-" and Albus jumped up quickly at the words.

Scorpius cut across him "James Potter" He said, his tone cool and hard. "My intentions were never to harm Albus, and Albus obviously is not upset as you can see." He reasoned and his voice matched his eyes.

"Scorp, James" Albus said and stepped between the two.

"Scorp" James repeated an eyebrow raised and he looked as if he could have punched Al.

"James calm down." Albus said, quickly and put his hands up in defense.

"You're defending him?" James said in disbelief. "He is a-"

"I know who he is." Albus snapped, his own temper kicking in. "Now if you don't like whom I'm choosing to be friends with then get out!" He said sharply.

"Fine then, I hope you have fun with your pureblood" James yelled, shoved Albus into Scorpius and stormed out of the compartment.

After a long silence Al finally opened his mouth. "Are you mad or disgusted with me?" He asked tentatively. Scorpius shook his head and turned Al to meet his gaze. His green eyes were round and apologetic, it looked as if he was about to cry.

"No" He said simply. He grabbed a hold of Albus' hand and pulled him back to the seat they had been sitting on earlier. "With this scene I wonder where the sorting hat is going to put us." He said mused. "Wonder when we will get to Hogwarts"

"I don't know" Albus said and he was sure Scorpius was trying to keep his mind off of something. "What's wrong?" He asked. The boy that was still so close him tensed.

"I think you would hit me if you knew" He said throwing Albus' words back at him. Albus crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

"Answer me Scorp."

"No" He said. "I'll tell you later, when I know none of your relatives can get their hands on me." Scorpius explained.

"Fine" He said disappointed. Although he knew Scorp had every right to wait till they were away from his family by going off of what had just happened. Scorpius rolled his eyes and stood up.

"I'm going to put on my robes, if you don't mind."

"Should I step out?" He asked, unsure of how comfortable Scorpius would be with him in the room.

"No, I mean when you're actually at Hogwarts you have to change in front of other people anyway, one of the many glories of living in a dormitory with a bunch of classmates." Scorpius explained and pulled his new Hogwarts robes from his trunk. He also threw some down to Albus who caught them.

"You didn't have to" He said as he caught Scorpius' robes. "When should I give them back to you?" Al asked. Scorpius shrugged, apparently indifferent. Scorpius hopped off the seat and smiled at Al. They both turned around out of shyness and politeness. When they were finished changing into their robes they turned around. Scorpius chuckled at Albus.

"What?" He asked defiantly.

"Just because your hair is a mess doesn't mean your shirt has to be." He commented as he walked over and straightened out Albus' collar and fixed a few buttons on his shirt.

"Are you always this motherly?" He questioned.

"Yes" Scorpius replied and sat down on the compartment seat. "So, what are your hopes for your first school year Al?"

"Pass, be put in a house where I won't get the snot kicked out of me." He said half heartedly.

"I don't think your family or I would let someone kick the snot out of you." Scorpius assured him. "Besides you're tougher than you think you are. Not to mention you are probably going to be a Gryffindor and messing with one of them isn't always one of the best ideas."

"Are you sure I'm a Gryffindor?" Albus asked before he could stop himself. "Are you even sure what house you are?" He asked he could feel panic starting to overwhelm him.

"Al, calm down." Was the first thing he said to his distressed friend "What ever house you and I are put into we will be where we are suppose to be."

"But what if we are put in houses where we aren't supposed to like each other, then does that mean we aren't supposed to be friends?" He ranted. Scorpius slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up.

"You talk, a lot, and you are terribly honest. If you keep this up you'll be a Hufflepuff, and for my own reputation I wouldn't be able to hang out with you in public." He said keeping his eyes glued to Albus'.

"Scorpius" He squeaked though his hand.

"Albus" He said sternly. "You don't have to worry about Hufflepuff" he said calmly. "You I'm pretty sure are a through and through Gryffindor." Albus blinked a few times and Scorpius pulled his hand down.

"My dad was almost put in Slytherin though" He whispered. Scorpius looked slightly taken a back. "He said though that the sorting hat took his preference into account so he became a Gryffindor."

"Interesting" He mused. "I wonder if it listens to everyone."

"I would think so" Albus replied to the inquiry.

"I hope so" Scorpius said and grinned at Albus.

"Why?" Albus asked, for some reason the idea of Scorpius Malfoy not wanting to be a Slytherin had never occurred to him.

"My mom didn't go to Hogwarts, she went to Beauxbatons, so the sorting hat may not find me fit to be a Slytherin." Scorpius explained.

"Where your parents came from doesn't necessarily determine your house, it is your personality and what lies in your" He paused trying to come up with the right word. "Heart" He tested and since Scorpius didn't give him a really odd look he must have said a word that worked nicely.

"I guess you're right" Scorpius said thoughtfully. The two heard another knock on their compartment and they jumped, it was only the elderly witch who ran the trolley. They each got a chocolate frog and a sugar quill.

"I suppose we are about half way there then?" Albus asked while opening his frog.

"Maybe" Scorpius said and looked out the window past Albus. Albus turned his head toward the window too, but didn't pay much attention to the outside. "What is it like having siblings?" Scorpius asked absent mindedly.

"Aggravating, comforting, squished." Albus replied as bluntly and simply as he could. He glanced behind him and saw a small smile on Scorpius' face. "What is it like to be an only child?" He threw at him.

"Lonely, free, too much pressure" Scorpius replied just as blunt and simple. Albus smiled not at the experience, but at his answer. The odd pair sat in silence, enjoying their small sweet treats they had bought until Rose rushed in and sat down right across from Albus.

"Oh my gosh Albus, are you okay?" Rose asked quickly her face horror stricken. "I heard about what happened earlier." She said and panic filled her voice and her features.

"I'm fine Rosie" Albus replied and smiled. "Why are you so worked up, James and I fighting isn't anything new."

"Not just that, being molested by whoever that Malfoy kid is." She whispered and Scorpius glared at her. She froze and looked over; apparently she hadn't noticed Scorpius' presence.

"Rose, meet that Malfoy kid, Scorpius." Albus said, trying to ease the sudden tension.

"What did I do, in detail please" Scorpius asked her curtly. Rose blushed and looked at Albus for help.

"Please, what are people saying he did to me." Albus inquired and she huffed.

"If you must know" She said and Albus couldn't help but think of Aunt Hermione. "They are saying that Scorpius here tried to seduce you, and that he was doing a mighty fine job of it." Rose finished stiffly.

"How well of a job" Albus asked and he sounded a bit excited.

"He had you all pinned up on the floor and touching you and" She stopped when she heard Scorpius' chuckles. "It isn't funny, you're both only eleven!" Rose said and she looked as if she could have been strict mother.

"Sorry" Scorpius said and couldn't stop the full-fledged smile that graced his smile and made his steel eyes sparkle. "That is just so absurd" He said and Albus was laughing a bit. Rose looked taken aback.

"What did happen?" She asked she just had to know now.

"Well, Scorpius and I were joking around and he ended up jumping me and we landed on the floor in an awkward position and with me in such an awkward position Scorp took the advantage to pester me and get a good laugh." Albus explained.

"So he never kissed you, or touched you inappropriately?" She asked.

"Nope, I didn't. I just sat on him and embarrassed him to no end." Scorpius interjected, he looked rather smug. "Do you have fun embarrassing him?" Scorpius asked. Rose nodded and giggled.

"How can you not?" Rose asked and Scorpius shrugged. "I mean isn't it so cute when he blushes?" She asked and Scorpius nodded a grin on his face.

"Like this?" Scorpius asked and turned to face poor Albus and began trying to fix his hair. Albus backed up and swatted at the pale slim hands that were attempting to fix his hair. Scorpius just scooted forward and went back to trying to get the young boy's hair to lie flat. Just as Scorpius had predicted Albus did blush, especially since Scorpius was practically in his lap so he wouldn't be able to get anywhere. Rose giggled and they both looked over at her.

"Be careful with Albus, Scorpius." Rose said and stood up. "Now Al, watch yourself or else James will be after your hide." Then she winked and left the compartment, being sure to close the door behind her. Albus was as red as red could be now and Scorpius was down right confused.

"What did she mean?" Scorpius asked. Albus opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure of how to explain it to Scorpius.

"Rose will and always will be Rose" Albus finally choked out.

"You have a weird family." Scorpius commented. "She is part of your family right?" He double checked.

"Yeah, she's my cousin." He explained. "Uncle Ron's daughter" Scorpius nodded in comprehension. Albus hesitated for a moment before he asked, he couldn't help himself. "Promise me that our backgrounds won't get in the way of our friendship?"

Scorpius smiled warmly at him, Albus could be so innocent at times. "Sure, of course." Scorpius replied. He meant every word of it, there was no way he was going to quit being Al's friend over something so trivial.

They finished out the train ride together. At one point they had fallen asleep, they awoke when the train lurched to a stop. They looked at each other and then realized that they had curled up to one another, they both laughed and pulled apart. Albus couldn't push away the cold feeling that clenched at his insides and the slight disappointment at having to wrench away from the natural and warm embrace.

The odd pair made their way through the crowd of streaming students over to where the tallest person stood who was calling for the first years to come over. "Albus!" He boomed over all the heads and Albus smiled and waved. When they reached the immensely tall grounds keeper Al beamed.

"Hey Hagrid, how have you been?" He asked.

"Mighty fine down 'ere, 'ow about you?"

"Pretty good so far" Albus replied and nodded. He glanced back at Scorpius who was just standing there nonchalantly. Al frowned at his new found friend and leaned over to his ear. "Calm down, and loose the attitude, Scorp." He hissed and Scorpius' head jerked.

"I see you're still here Hagrid" Scorpius said as an acknowledgement to the half giant, his tone was almost icy, and Albus had to hold back the urge to punch him. Hagrid scoffed in reply. "Allow me to apologize for my father's stuck up behavior." Scorpius said warmly and smiled, Hagrid stood there flabbergasted at the gesture.

"Ha ha Scorpius very funny" Albus said snidely.

"Sorry Al" He retorted. Albus fidgeted and looked down. "Although Hagrid, I would like to apologize for my dad's actions, he is a prick that cares more about a reputation, not to mention was spoiled filthy." Scorpius said and chuckled.

"I'll assume you act more like your mum then." Hagrid said cautiously and took Scorpius in for a second time.

"Normally" Scorpius admitted.

"Well go get into the boats you two." He told them and made a few more calls for first years. The two found a boat and shortly after they sat down Rose joined them.

"Have a good train ride?" She asked pleasantly. The two nodded. "So Albus, do you think I'll be put in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw?"

"Gryffindor for sure" Scorpius answered for him.

"Really"

"You bet. Now as for you Albus, I'm not sure, Gryffindor most likely, but you'd make a mighty fine Slytherin too."

"Hush Scorpius" Rose said. "The last thing we need is a nervous Al."

"I second that!" Albus piped in. The three laughed. Each of them were wondering what the future held for each of them.


	2. What

What?

"Hey Albus?" Scorpius asked lazily.

"Hm" Was his response as his fingers slipped through Scorpius' hair once more.

"Have you told your mom and dad that we're like best friends?" Scorpius asked. Albus frowned and continued to mess with the Slytherin's hair. "Answer me." He whined and once again got no response so he opened his eyes and grabbed a hold of Al's hand.

"Sorry, I haven't. I know I should have. James knows." He added, hoping this would make him calm down a bit. Although even if James did know he was far from accepting Scorpius as anything other than a Malfoy scumbag. The young boy only sighed. "Are you mad at me?" Al asked of Scorpius.

"Not really, I just wish you would tell them. I mean we're so close, and then more or less I don't like the idea of you keeping secrets." Scorpius explained and let himself get lost into the emeralds that stared down at him. Albus swallowed; when Scorpius stared at him like that he didn't know what to do.

"Scorpius" Al began but stopped, he wasn't too sure where his head was going.

"Albus Severus" Scorpius replied and drew his gaze away from Albus' eyes to see darkness again. "When will you tell them?"

Albus swallowed again, he had no idea when he would tell them. Possibly over the summer break. Although he knew that would be waiting too long for Scorpius. "When do you want me to tell them?" Scorpius chanced a look at Albus through one eye.

"You really will tell your parents that the closest person to you is me, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy?" He asked. Albus could hear how much doubt Scorpius had in him and it hurt probably more than it should have.

"Yeah" He said and leaned back a bit to look at the ceiling. "We've been best buds for months now and like you said keeping secrets from my parents is upsetting so I'll tell them." He explained and hoped that Scorpius would believe him in what he said. There was no cloud in his mind or anything to go and prove his statement wrong -he meant every word- and he just felt this was much easier said than done. There was a slight pause before Albus heard his blonde chuckle and averted his attention back to him.

"Tomorrow" He iterated and Albus' eyes bulged. Scorpius threw him a winning grin.

"Serious?"

"You bet."

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" Albus asked.

"You are correct Mr. Potter. Now if only you could be this correct when you write your potions essays," Scorpius teased as he sat up. He stretched contently and pulled Albus to his feet. "You have to be getting back to your common room now." He said as he brushed something off of his dark haired friend's shirt. Albus rolled his eyes.

"Yes mum." He replied curtly and this time Scorpius was the one to roll his eyes. They both laughed and headed off in different directions. Albus left the common room while Scorpius retreated up to his dormitory. Once Albus was safe and in his four poster bed he set to work on writing the letter that would explain to his parents his close friendship with Scorpius and how it had grown from when they first met on the train to that present day. He took a deep breath and re-read it for about the millionth time.

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_How are you? I'm pretty good here myself. Gryffindor is everything and more that you guys had told me it would be, yeah I finally have an opinion of it after almost a year. Although Slytherin is so much different! The guys are a bit stuck up and the girl's prissy somewhat, but they're all pretty cool and funny. But don't mark me wrong, I love Gryffindor, everyone in the house is so close and talented, the whole common room and at every meal just seems to glow with this warmth that isn't always there in the other three houses, especially Slytherin, they aren't too big on getting close to people. On that topic of being close to people and why I know so much about Slytherin is because my best mate here is Scorpius Malfoy. Yeah, I said Malfoy. I hope you guys can handle that, please don't tell Uncle Ron just yet, he might completely flip and yank Rose out of Hogwarts. I don't know, just the point of this whole thing is to let you know Scorpius and I are really close, and sometimes I wish we were both put in the same house._

_Your Son_

_Albus Severus Potter_

The young Gryffindor then sealed it and placed it on his bedside table to be sent tomorrow morning. Albus then lay down to sleep, although sleep did not come easily or stay for long. When morning came he was happy to at least have an excuse for being awake and walking around, the sun. Albus found it odd because he was always more of a night owl and not a morning bird, but the sooner he had his letter the off the better.

So the young Potter put on some normal clothes, his cloak and scarf and set out to do two things. First get Scorpius, second owl the letter off in the presence of Scorpius so he wouldn't have to worry about trust issues. As Albus was about to say the password he realized Scorpius might not be up yet.

He sighed and made to leave but the wall in front of him opened and there stood a pajama clad Scorpius one hand rubbing his eye. "Why are you here?" Scorpius asked and he sounded half awake, "Why are you even up?" Albus fidgeted uneasily.

"I was here to get you so you would see that I did owl my parents about our friendship, but I was about to leave, and then you are just sort of here. Why are you up?" Albus spit out quickly.

"I had a bad dream and walking around normally helps." Scorpius explained, still sounding as if he was about to fall over.

"You're cute in the mornings." Albus told his friend as if they were one of those couples who people hate to be around because they are so mushy lovey dovey like.

"I dare you to say that again." Scorpius mumbled and Albus shot him a cheeky grin, "And no, I'm not cold."

"How did you-"

"You looked a bit worried and you're all bundled up." Scorpius interrupted, it amazed him how easily Al could forget that he was very perceptive.

"Even when you wake up you're as sharp as a tack." The slightly shorter of the two mused aloud.

"I can only try, now can we walk, please?" He begged in response.

"Yeah sure" The pair set out in the dawn to go and owl Albus' parents, "Scorpius, what do you think my parents' reaction will be?"

"It will be better than my dad's when he finds out."

"Your mom won't care?"

"No, she is pretty stiff, but was accepting of the friendship. I'll admit she was very perplexed and a bit agitated when I told her about it, but found it to be a better relationship than some of the others I could have." Scorpius explained nonchalantly, apparently Al had forgotten that his mom had found out over Christmas break.

"Others?" Albus couldn't help but ask. He didn't like to pay even a fourth of a thought to the fact that Scorpius could be the king of Slytherin with half the house at his bidding along with a large group of friends who could honestly make his life and quite a few others's a living hell.

"You know the answer to that." Was all Scorpius had to say in return, "Listen, don't think about it please because I'm not like that and I like you better than most of my house anyway." Albus nodded and gave him a small smile. Scorpius couldn't help but smile back, to him Al had the brightest of all the smiles in the school; he was so innocent. "Hey Al"

"Yeah Scorp?" Albus said easily and happily.

"What does the word innocent mean to you?" Al faltered in his steps a bit. His head snapped to look at his pale companion, trying to figure out exactly what he meant by the question. "Just answer it Al" Scorpius told him. He wanted an answer, more like needed for some unknown reason.

Albus thought for awhile on what to say, "Innocent to me means, pure at heart. Not necessarily being at peace, but happy with no complaints, being able to smile even in the worst because life will always be there, just as love is. Innocence for me is being able to feel everything, because to me there is a difference between" Al gnawed on his bottom lip trying to choose his words wisely because this answer seemed to mean something to Scorpius because he had asked and was listening intently, "There is a difference between being guarded and shadowed and being open and free." Albus tested and looked over at Scorpius. His friend was just staring, his deep storm one's barring into his own gem colored ones. "Scorpius" Albus breathed.

"Al-" Scorpius said just as airy and leaned in ever so slightly and Albus reciprocated the action. Each of their eyes closing a bit till they heard a high pitched cackle, the pair whipped around, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. Their wondering was answered as they saw the ever present Hogwarts' poltergeist -Peeves- shoot out from a nearby classroom.

"Son of the hero and son of the betrayer, oo who who," He said delighted, "What shall fathers say when they find out what their little replicas are up to behind closed doors?" Peeves question high and annoying. Albus' eyes bulged and Scorpius paled so much he might have been a ghost himself. "Eee hee hee what mischief I will have fun creating for little ickle firsties!" He said sing song like and flew off quick as a firebolt five thousand.

"I'm so sorry Scorpius! I'll explain to your dad myself that this isn't" Albus stopped. That what wasn't? He didn't ever really know what that was so how could he deny it?

"It's fine Albus, don't worry about it." Scorpius told him lightly, "Let's get that mailed before something else happens." He said in an attempt to brush away the on falling storm of awkwardness. Albus nodded and the two set off at a brisk pace to get away from where they previously were. Each boys' head filled with confusion and panic, what had been going on, and why in the whole wizarding world was it happening to them.

When they entered the owlry not many of the owls were there. To Al's luck his saw-whet owl Harlow was just flying in from a night of hunting. Harlow gave a small hoot and landed on Al's shoulder. "Hey can you take this message to mum and dad?" Albus asked as he held up the letter for Harlow to see. The owl gave a long 'who' in response. "Great!" Albus said. Just then the owl flew over to a little box and pulled out a small string for Albus to use to attach the letter to his leg, "Good thinking." Albus commented and walked over to his beloved bird and then tied the letter to his out stretched leg. The owl gave one last hoot and flew off.

"Wonder how long it will take them to respond." Scorpius mused as he watched the bird fly off.

"My guess is not very long," Albus stated and glanced at Scorpius.

"For your sake I hope they get it later rather than sooner." Albus stuck his tongue out at the young Malfoy for his fake sympathy, "You might want to watch your tongue." Scorpius commented and moved forward making to bite at it. Albus jumped back and fell flat on his back causing the platinum haired youth to burst into laughter. "Al, you're too fun to mess with." The raven haired boy just stuck his tongue out and sat up, pouting like a little kid. Scorpius chuckled and offered a hand to Albus, "Come on, why don't we go get some breakfast before everyone shows up. We haven't eaten together in months." Albus beamed at him. He liked being able to eat with Scorpius instead of having to sit on the other side of the large room. Not that they had to hide their friendship from the school, but there were a great deal of people who if they knew would have quite a fit.

"Where should we sit? At the Gryffindor table or at the Slytherin table, it doesn't matter to me." Al asked. Scorpius stood for a moment.

"Well, we are sort of already wading in deep waters, so why not plunge in?" Scorpius offered with grin on his face. Albus laughed and nodded. All of Slytherin, or most of the house accepted Albus with out a question. Yes there was much speculation, but no really big problem. Gryffindor on the other hand was a slight bit different, or more like Albus' family was and they were about a third of the Gryffindor house.

When the pair walked into the Great Hall and as Scorpius had predicted it was not very crowded at all. Rose saw them walk in and waved the two over, she was about the only one Albus' family who knew about their friendship, and accepted it with open arms. The two walked over to the table quickly and sat down across from Rose. "So, why are you up so early?" She asked. Albus was no morning bird.

"Didn't sleep much last night, and delivered a letter to my mum and dad to get it over with." Albus explained in short. She nodded and turned her attention to Scorpius.

"Nice attire young Malfoy." She said and grinned from ear to ear. Scorpius' hand made contact with his forehead. He was still in a pair of pajamas bottoms, a black tee-shirt, and Albus' house cloak.

"I forgot" He groaned, "This is embarrassing."

"You'll be fine, just after you finish run down to Slytherin, no one will ever know." Rose said confidently. She might have had an amazingly high intelligence level for her age, but she did not have a bunch of common sense yet.

"Oh yes, go running around the halls of Hogwarts like this, after about half of the school is up, brilliant!" Scorpius commented and took a bite of a biscuit.

"Scorp" Albus said and said person looked over at him. "We can change the badge on the cloak with a bit of magic and alter the color of your pants to black, no one will notice, not at first anyway." He said and Rose looked dumbfounded.

"You came up with an idea, that isn't incredibly stupid or dangerous!" She commented and launched herself across the table to hug Albus.

"Hey" He whined and he could hear Scorpius chuckling to himself, "It isn't that surprising, I'm not stupid, sure dense and a bit slow, but certainly not dumb." He defended himself.

"You're adorable Al." She said with a giggle, her face fell soon after that and she leaned across the table again, "James is here" she whispered loud enough for only them to hear. Albus rolled his eyes and waved at his older brother. His brother did not acknowledge him in return. "Is he still mad at you for the whole train incident and being friends with Scorp?" She asked astounded.

"No, he just acts as if I don't exist when I'm with him, that's all." Albus admitted and shot Scorpius a small smile. He did not want him feeling guilty or anything because of James.

"You know what" Scorpius said, his eyes transfixed on James, "I think I'm going to go say hello, and I'm not changing my outfit in anyway." He said and stood up.

"Wait!" Albus hissed and pulled Scorpius back down, "What are you doing?" He asked his green eyes wide and somewhat terrified.

"He needs to get his head out of his ass and quit acting like a prick." Scorpius snapped and stood up again. Rose stared like a deer caught in head lights, this was not the smartest idea in the world, and it was something Albus normally would have done, not Scorpius, "You coming?" H asked and glanced back at Al. The slightly younger of the two nodded and followed him. His heart was hammering, who knows what James would do, or not do, "Hello James" Scorpius said politely and cheerfully as he passed by him. Albus smiled at his older bother. James let them leave before he tailed after them, he went around his little brother to grab Scorpius by the shoulder and spin him around sharply. Albus was watching them intently, James was fuming, and Scorpius was smiling from ear to ear, "Hello James." He said again. Albus saw his brother's hand twitch.

"What the hell do you want, and what the hell did you do to him?" James growled, Albus blinked quite a few times, this was not what he expected. Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you think that whenever I hang out with Albus that I'm doing something to his virtue?" Scorpius asked. His smile still plastered on his face, Albus blushed horrifically at the statement and continued to watch the two of them closely. He was glad this was happening outside of the Great Hall and somewhat away from most ears.

"Probably because you're a slimy git" James said through his teeth, Albus could tell he was trying not to yell and he was doing a mighty fine job.

"But you don't even know me." The Slytherin cooed at the older Gryffindor, "Besides Alby" He paused watching James' face contort a bit, "Alby is convinced to make me wait till I propose to him before I'm even allowed to completely ruin his precious virtue." He said and smiled quite contently at James.

"Why you" James yelled and he swung a punch, but not at Scorpius. He hit Al square in the jaw, Scorpius' mouth fell open and Albus staggered back a bit, hand over his mouth to keep blood from getting onto the marble floor. "You poof! In Merlin's name and on the graves of the Marauders of all people!" He yelled, more pissed than he had ever been, "Scorpius Malfoy?" He asked his voice low.

"James" Scorpius said quickly, the boy rounded on Scorpius, "I never touched him, never have. We're only friends; I was just messing with you." Scorpius said and licked his suddenly dry lips, "You need to calm down, and learn to accept what Albus and I have. It won't kill you." Scorpius said, his own temper beginning to kick in. James glared daggers at Scorpius and stormed off. Once out of sight Scorpius walked swiftly over to Albus and grabbed a hold of his free hand and took him down to Madame Pomfrey. She 'tisked' at Albus for his reckless behavior; he wouldn't tell her that it was James, but gave her some made up story. Scorpius brooded in a corner of the hospital wing waiting for Albus to be released.

"You're free to go Mr. Potter" She said tersely, "Be careful with your jaw, and it might be a bit sore while eating." She informed him and shooed the two boys from her wing.

"Why didn't you tell her the truth?" Scorpius asked accusingly.

"Mom and dad don't need to know of James' ill actions. We sort of egged him on anyway. I'm just glad my jaw was only crack here and there and not broken." Albus said and moved his jaw around experimentally. Scorpius sighed and shook his head.

"You go eat some breakfast I'm gonna go to Slytherin to change." He said and took off. Albus frowned at Scorpius, but let him go.

Albus walked into the Great Hall once again and saw Rose sitting where they had left her. He again walked over to her and sat across from her. "What happened?" She asked quickly, she had immediately noticed Scorpius' absence.

"He rubbed James' fur the wrong way and I got punch in the jaw. James cracked it, but Madame Pomfrey was able to fix me up easily." Albus explained and took a bite of the biscuit Scorpius had left.

"What did you two do?" She inquired shocked.

"In short Scorpius told James he hadn't done anything to my virtue, and that I wouldn't let him till he proposed." Albus said and shrugged. He could feel a blush creeping up on his cheeks.

"Since when were you two dating?" Rose asked quickly. Albus coughed furiously on the bit of biscuit he had tried to swallow.

"What?" He blurted, his face flustered and voice strained, "Dating? It was a joke!" Albus said exasperated, "Scorpius is my best friend." He explained. The idea of them dating was not only odd, but it freaked him out a bit. Albus was no homophobe, but Scorpius was his best mate, not a love interest. Besides he was only eleven, too young to be dating. Right? Albus shook his head to clear his mind and gave Rose a skeptical look. Rose rolled her eyes and looked up to see the owls coming in with the mail.

"Hey, look its Harlow" Rose said cheerily as her own owl and her cousin's owl swooped down together. Her owl stuck out its leg, the Daily Prophet attached to it. Harlow perched himself cheerfully atop Albus' shoulder and hooted.

"Hey Harlow" Al said uneasily and took the letter off of his leg. The envelope was thick and white. His face blanched as he realized what it was, it was one of his mother's howlers n disguise. Apparently she didn't want everyone to know Albus had gotten one. He bit his bottom lip and left the Great Hall quickly causing Harlow to hoot in annoyance and fly off. Rose watched him leave in curiosity but shrugged it off.

Albus dashed up the stairs and into the nearest abandoned class room. He slammed to door and locked it quickly; he desperately wished he knew how to put a silencing charm on the room. He was glad though that James had gotten one earlier in the year for his and Fred's antics upon bewitching the furniture in all of the common rooms in Hogwarts. Albus took a deep breath and told the letter to go ahead. "ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!" he heard his mother's voice shriek. He prayed no one could hear this. "Ginny calm down." He heard his dad try to reason. "Shut up Harry" His mom snapped and she took a deep breath. "Albus, _what_ do you think you are doing?" She said her voice sharp and higher than normal. "I'm glad to know you are enjoying school, but Malfoy?" She said her anger catching back up to her of what Albus could tell, "You know who he is right? Who his father and grandfather are?" His mother's voice snapped, "Ginny, darling, Albus can make his own choices." He heard his father urge. "Shut up" His mom said tersely, "Albus I respect your judgment, and I want your happiness, but don't expect me to allow him to come over or for you to visit. No matter how different you might try to claim he is, he is still a Malfoy and all they are is deceitful, grimy, wizards who care more about breeding than a crying child. If you go into the Slytherin common room again, and I find out you will be sorry young man." His mother spat. He heard his father groan in the background. There was a long pause before the howler started speaking again, "Albus, I'm glad to know you have enough humility to tell us and to push pass generations of tension and argument to find a good friend outside of the family." His father said and then the howler disappeared in a puff. Albus blinked quite a few times and then sat down on the floor.

"Dear Godric Gryffindor, what have I gotten myself into?" He asked, "This is not going to be easy to deal with. Perhaps Lily will be like dad." He mused, attempting to ease the dread. He heard a tap and saw Harlow at the window he gave a small smile and opened the window. Harlow had another letter. It was the written version of his mother's and father's note. He guessed it came in with the family owl after he left and Rose sent it off to him by means of Harlow. He took the letter and rubbed Harlow's beak a bit, "Thank you" He said half heartedly and the poked his head out of the classroom. No one was in sight so he took that chance to leave and go to his dormitory to hide the letter from his parents. The last thing he wanted was anyone knowing what was going on.


	3. Settle This Now

Settle this now

Albus was lying on his bed, glaring up at the ceiling brooding. His mother had royally grounded him and James a few hours ago for getting into a fight. Scorpius was his friend and Al had had it with James and his attitude. It wasn't like he himself was any different because of who he hung out with. Scorpius hadn't really changed anything about him, not yet at least. "He isn't bad at all." Albus whined, "Why can't James see that." He grumbled, "Too bad laying a good punch on him wouldn't do anything." Albus said and cursed a few times, "Why do I insist on getting into more trouble? It isn't that hard to control my emotions." Albus complained to himself as he rolled over, the ceiling becoming too boring.

"How about because you're friends with a slimy snake." Albus heard James call from his door way. He sat up and snapped around to glare at his older brother.

"You don't even know him you prat!" Albus yelled.

"Haven't you ever heard of observation and family image?" James asked coolly, his face reflecting a smirk filled with cockiness and misplaced superiority.

"Take that back" the younger of the two snarled as he whipped out his wand.

"Make me" James tested and took a few steps into Al's room. Albus glared and threw his wand to the side and tackled his brother. The pair hit the floor with a loud thud.

Al grabbed his older brother's shirt in his hands and yanked him up, "Take it back, now." He growled.

"BOYS!" Ginny shrieked, her voice shrill, "Separate this instant." She snapped, her eyes narrowed and teeth clenched. James shoved Albus off and Albus retreated to his bed.

"Bloody poof" James mumbled.

"James" their mother snapped, "Get out of his room and learn to hold your tongue." She said sharply and pointed in the direction of where his room was. The eldest rolled his eyes and left. Ginny proceeded to enter her second son's room and shut the door behind herself. "Albus dear, control your actions please." She requested of Albus. She almost felt like she was back at Dumbledore's funeral again.

"Mom he's bashing my best friend, he won't even treat me like I'm his little brother anymore!" Albus protested hotly. How could his mom not understand? After all it was her that everyone said he got his spirit from. Ginny sighed and gnawed on her bottom lip.

"Albus, honey" She said softly, "You don't understand… I never told you….. I didn't mean for James to find out either, but he did… Just sweetie, Scorpius whoever he may be is still Scorpius _Malfoy_ and blood is a strong bond."

"Yes, and I'm Albus _Potter_, the savior of the wizarding world is _my _father. Do you see me running around risking my life and battling powerful wizards?" Albus fought back. He wasn't going to loose this. He saw his mother roll her eyes, rather similarly to how his younger sister did.

"Al listen to me, Scorpius' grandfather almost killed me. For years the Malfoy family has been wreaking havoc, no matter how small somewhere in this world we live in." She explained, her frustration rising.

"Yeah, and Scorpius' grandmother protected dad, and his mother is from the same school my aunt, your sister in law, is from. Also was it, or wasn't it you who said that there is some kindness within every soul?" He heard his mother growl and she made for the door.

"Just because there is kindness, it doesn't necessarily define every action one does nor does it mask what other qualities one has that are much more dangerous, powerful, consuming, and destructive of one's self and others." Were his mother's final words before she left the room.

"Why can't you just accept my friendship and grow up?" Albus yelled, full knowing his mother would hear. There was no response; his mother never came back to his room. The young Potter groaned and fell onto his bed, he rolled over to face away from the door and began muttering to himself about this and that. Over the course of calming his bad mood he had fallen asleep and was woken when he heard his door creak. He sat bolt up right and looked around quickly.

"Calm down." He heard the intruder say, it was his father and he sounded rather groggy.

"Dad" Albus checked, "What are you doing?" He asked bewildered and a bit annoyed.

"Talking to you," He stated, he flicked his wand and Albus' lamp flickered on. Both of them squinted momentarily from the sudden amount of light. "Albus, try not to harass your mother right now. It makes my life very hard, and it hurts her when you act like you have been."

"Why am I the bad guy?" The irritated pre-teen argued, "James is always pestering me, egging me on, saying rude things about my friend. Do you see me doing any of those things to him?" Albus defended. His father sighed and rubbed his temples. Albus watched him closely, seeing his green eyes reflected back at him.

"James does it for entertainment and because it is in his character to do so, he is the older sibling. It's like how you taunt Lily." Harry supplied, attempting to offer some insight for his frustrated and somewhat wrongly accused son.

"Lily and I are different" Albus corrected, "We know it's fun and we go back and forth and sometimes it gets a little rough, but nothing like what's going on between James and I. He's cracked my jaw, played pranks on me, acts as if I don't exist most of the time dad! My older brother hates me because I'm friends with Scorpius and hates Scorpius because of something his grandfather did." He pleaded. Harry could see the sorrow in Albus' eyes, he could hear the distress in his voice, he could feel the torment that was radiating from him. He strode over to Albus and wrapped him in a hug.

"Albus, he doesn't hate you, he could never hate you." His father whispered and hugged him tighter. Albus wrapped his arms around his dad and fell into pieces crying. "Just, give your mom and brother a bit of time, for me alright?" Harry asked softly and Albus nodded, never letting go. Harry placed a hand on his son's head, he wished he could make Ginny at least see past old prejudices and conflicts, but one thing she had always been was stubborn.

***

"Al, let's go!" Lily shouted from downstairs, she was impatient to go to Diagon Alley to get her first set of school items ever.

"Coming!" Albus yelled and ran down the stairs, Diagon Alley next to Hogwarts was his favorite place, but he didn't tell his family that.

"What took so long?" Lily asked her attitude fully showing.

"Forgive me for brushing my teeth." Albus retorted and headed for the sitting room where the fire was, Lily hot on his heels. The two youngest were followed by the other members of their family. Each of them grabbed a hand of Floo powder and assembled themselves in a line. Harry first followed by James, Albus, Lily, and then Ginny. One by one the Potter family disappeared in a fire of green to reappear in Diagon Alley.

"Where to first?" Lily inquired once her mother was beside her. She looked around her brown eyes wide and bright.

"Where ever you'd like." Harry said and wrapped an arm around his only daughter. With out hesitation Lily slipped out from under her father's arm and led the way to Flourish and Blotts, "Wow" Lily whispered as the first thing she saw was a slender, pale boy with blond hair that fell gently over his features masking who he was gracefully leaned up against a wall engrossed in a book. The family followed her gaze and Harry sighed, his daughter was beginning to take an interest in boys. Ginny giggled and Albus paled, recognizing the form all to well. James shrugged and went about the shop looking for the books he needed.

"Come on Al." Lily said and linked arms with him, making her way over to the boy.

"My little girl has her first crush." Ginny cooed after the two of them.

"Better her get her first real crush here than in a secret chamber where she is meeting her doom." Harry joked and kissed Ginny on the head. She elbowed him and went to find James. Harry continued to watch the pair; he knew Ginny would want details.

"Hey Scorp." Albus said softly and Lily froze and let go of Al's arm. Scorpius looked up at the mention of his name and smiled.

"Al" He said delighted and hugged him, he looked over and took notice of Lily, "You have a girlfriend?" Scorpius asked Albus apprehensively.

"No" Lily squeaked. Scorpius laughed.

"I know, I know." Scorpius said still laughing slightly, "You must be Lily. Albus' favorite sibling and precious little sister" Scorpius said his smile never leaving his features. Lily nodded her face red and made a break for it.

"Is your hobby terrorizing Potters?" Albus said jokingly.

"You bet" Scorpius said and put the book back on the shelf, "So how has your summer been?"

"Grounded" Albus grumbled in reply, "James and I got into it again, I won." He explained, trying to lighten the mood. Scorpius hung his head and shook it, "How has yours been?" Albus asked in a feeble attempt to change the subject.

"Quite fun actually, I went to France to visit some family, learned some French and got some quality time with my mother. Which included being pestered about you." Scorpius said and smiled. Albus swore he saw a slight tint of color wash over his friend's normally pale features, but he couldn't be sure, "Well anyway, back to you." Scorpius said and turned his head to give Albus his full attention, "Or not" Scorpius hissed and made a break away from Albus.

"What" Albus said indignantly, but before he went after Scorpius he saw Mr. Malfoy turning into the shop. "That would explain something." Albus muttered to himself as he made his way to his own father.

"So, I'll take it Lily isn't the next Mrs. Malfoy then?" Harry asked his son as he approached.

"I think not. Lily wouldn't be able to live down being married to him with their meeting being as embarrassing as it was." Albus commented.

"I'll also take it that Scorpius has not told his parents about your friendship."

"He has told his mom, but not his dad." Albus said and looked down, shoving away the pang of sadness that seemed to wash over him.

"He'll tell him in time, I promise." Harry confided and the pair set to finding Albus' needed books for the year.

"Dad"

"Hm"

"How odd is it for you to see me and Scorpius with each other?" Albus asked, curiosity getting the better of him as he grabbed the last of his needed books.

"Very odd, it's like looking into a mirror almost and because Draco had once extended to me the idea of friendship, but I turned him down. For good reason, but I still said no nonetheless." Harry explained as he walked over to the store clerk to purchase the books. That is where Lily, James, and Ginny all met up. Albus was glad he didn't have anything else to ask or say because if he did who knows what his brother would have done. As the five Potters made their way out Scorpius snuck up and grabbed Al by the hand to hold him back.

"Hey, meet me outside of Ollivander's in an hour." He whispered into Albus' ear and walked off in the other direction. Albus nodded to himself and caught up with his family, luckily no one noticed he had stopped.

As Albus was with James and his dad looking at Potions ingredients he was trying to formulate a plan to get away from them and down to the old wand maker's shop. He kept thinking as he browsed through different items, some of which he needed. He was glad that shopping for potions class was about as easy as caring for Harlow. That was when it hit him. He quickly found the rest of his items and went to find his dad.

"Here are the things I need for potions" Albus said as he handed his dad the required items, "I'm going to go to Eeylops' real quick to get some food for Harlow." He said hastily.

"Be careful!" Harry called after Albus, "What has gotten into him?" Harry mused aloud as Albus dashed down the street toward the emporium. He went in found some owl food Harlow was fond of and then made haste to get to Ollivander's. As he slowed down he saw Scorpius leaning up against the outside of the shop.

"For one you aren't late." Scorpius called and met Albus in the middle.

"Why are we meeting up and talking?" Albus asked, slightly out of breath.

"Because I rudely interrupted our conversation earlier"

"What about your parents?"

"Dad thinks I'm with mom who let me meet up with you." Albus nodded in understanding, "So how about we go walk around?" Once again Albus nodded and the quite opposite pair headed in one direction of another. "As I said, back to you."

Albus sighed and looked over at Scorpius, "Why isn't your hair all slicked back?" Scorpius frowned at him. "Alright, alright. Yeah, I was grounded cause James was being a prick and wouldn't quit insulting you and then he kept pestering me. He was just asking for it." Albus explained, he felt like a four year old defending why he ate a cookie right before dinner.

"Albus, your family is more important than me." Scorpius explained, "Believe me, I would know. I don't have any because of reputation." When Scorpius said that it made Albus feel so guilty. He made to apologize but stopped when Scorpius held up a hand. "It isn't your fault, just watch what you do. My hair isn't gelled and crap because I wouldn't let dad touch it this morning."

"Good, don't let him. I like it this way." Albus said.

"I know, you told me sometime last year." Scorpius said airily.

"Shut up" Albus retorted and couldn't help the small paint of pink that he felt hit his face. Scorpius chuckled at him. "Well what did your mom want to know about me?"

"Well, she wanted to know your full name. What you look like, what your best and worst subjects are, what some of your redeeming qualities are, what your manners are like. In short I think she was trying to evaluate if you would be suitable to stay with us over some break or another." Scorpius explained and again Albus thought he saw that faint swipe of color pass over his friend's features.

"So, does this mean your dad would be okay with our friendship?" Albus asked hesitantly. He knew Mr. Malfoy was sometimes a sensitive subject for Scorpius.

"Maybe, I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out all summer. All in all though you asking me that would be like me asking you when will James get his head out of his ass." Scorpius explained and Albus could tell they should switch subjects.

"I will when you leave my little brother alone." James hissed and both boys turned around in a heart beat.

"James" Albus said and swallowed, "You followed me." He accused. James shrugged, not denying it or exactly saying he did.

"How about I make this clear one last time Malfoy: keep your hands away from my brother." James said iterating each word clearly.

"How about I make this clear James: I'm not touching him and you need to get over the past." Scorpius mocked.

"Don't tell me what to do" James growled. "Don't treat Albus like shit." Scorpius snapped. James glared at the young Malfoy. Each of their eyes appearing darker and colder than Albus had ever seen.

"Albus, James there you are!" Their mother called as she spotted them. She walked over to them. "Oh, hello" She said dismissively to Scorpius. She didn't want to talk with him even in the slightest.

"Hello Mrs. Potter" Scorpius said, his bitterness fading quickly, "How are you?" Scorpius asked, attempting to start up a small conversation.

"Quite fine thank you" She paused racking her brain for the name because he looked so much like Draco, "Scorpius" She finally said. "James, Albus. Lily is finishing up her shopping so we're going to be going soon. So um… James come with me, Albus meet us by the fireplaces in a bit." She said and tried to leave.

"Mom, please talk to Scorpius, I promise he won't bite." Albus pleaded. She pretended not to hear him as she left with James in tow.

"You never told me your mom didn't like me either." Scorpius said and Albus could hear how offended he was. "Albus, when will you ever trust me completely? You hid that from me for what, close to two years?"

"Okay first off I was grounded, how cold I tell you? Second I would trust you with my life. Third it's more like a prejudice against you for something that happened a while ago. Fourth I let you read that note during second year that my parents sent at the end of first year so you had a vague idea my mom didn't approve of you." Albus explained hastily. He hated it when Scorpius thought Albus was less than what he put on.

"You get off on the first two reasons, I disregard that third reason because I don't understand it, but just because she doesn't approve doesn't mean she has a right to not like me." Scorpius contradicted, "But still all of the summer after first year and second, Albus come on, she's yur mom and you're my best friend"

"I'm sorry Scorp, it was a bad move of me not to explain, but I'm stupid and you know it." Albus defended. Once again something he didn't like was when Scorp under minded him.

Scorpius gave a small laugh, he was blowing this a bit out of proportion and giving Albus a hard time, but it was amusing to see him act like a kid, sort of like when they first met. "You're cute" Albus squeaked, and he could feel his face heat up. "Now go get home, before they begin to wonder if I kidnapped you." Scorpius commanded in a joking manner. Albus laughed and nodded. Although he wasn't too sure if he was completely against being kidnapped by Scorpius, if anything he'd be away from James.

"See you in a few weeks" Albus said as he turned and left.

For the remainder of the summer James shunned Albus as per usual and Lily grew even more and more excited to be able to finally go to Hogwarts. Ginny hadn't particularly budged in where she stood with her misconceptions of Scorpius, but she hid her feelings well for Albus. If anything good had happened in Albus' mind it was that he was off grounding and was able to talk back and forth with Scorpius, even if he had to wait nights for a response because Draco still didn't know yet. Naturally Albus was slightly offended, but didn't let it discourage him. What mattered was that his mom had loosened up a bit and James had stopped with the rude remarks since Diagon Alley. That was until when they were all at platform 9 3/4 preparing to go onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Caution of where you step, there are poisonous snakes in this area." James said loud enough for Albus to hear.

"Caution of jackasses because they're rude and over populated in this area." Albus retaliated.

"Caution of idiotic Potters" Someone drawled from behind them and all of the Potters spun on the spot. There was Draco Malfoy, platinum hair slicked back, dark cloak long and billowing, features pale but softened by age and with him Scorpius, almost a duplicate of his father.

"Draco" Harry said, his voice lower than normal and with all formality in it.

"Harry" Draco reciprocated. Lily stuck her tongue out at him and Ginny quickly clapped a hand over her daughter's mouth, "Like mother like daughter, and apparently father like son" He commented and smiled. Ginny glared and pulled Lily into her protectively. Harry put a hand on Albus' shoulder and James stepped forward slightly. "Watch you child Potter, we don't want any scenes to be made." Draco informed Harry and swept pass them, Scorpius followed his dad. Throughout the whole interaction Albus' eyes never once left Scorpius'. He was trying to figure out what was going on and why Scorpius seemed so cold.

"Told you he was just a Malfoy" James snarled.

"No he isn't" Albus spat and took a step toward James.

"Then what was that? You always defend him, but he won't even give you recognition!"

"You need to keep in mind James Scorpius' father doesn't know yet so Scorpius has quite an act to play for him." A female voice said and James turned around to see who was barging in on their argument. He swallowed, it wasn't a student that was for sure, "May I briefly introduce myself, I'm Astoria Malfoy, Scorpius' mother." She explained and James paled. Albus smiled just a bit, Scorpius had her smile and quite a few of her characteristics, "Now I must ask you, James" She said and he nodded, struck from all words, "What in the name of Salazar Slytherin, no forgive me. Godric Gryffindor could I do to make you see Scorpius isn't all of his father?" James swallowed his head swimming. Ginny was a bit taken a back; this was who Draco Malfoy had chosen to marry? Harry was containing his laughter and Lily just stared in awe of the beauty of Scorpius' mother.

"Uh…" He said intelligently, "You don't have to do anything." He said and left for the train before anyone could stop him.

"Well, he isn't the brightest bulb in the box." She mused and looked around, she couldn't see Draco, "I'm sorry for any trouble that has come up because of Scorpius, I really am. Although I couldn't tell him to stay away from Albus after I realized that he could be Scorpius' one chance to not be truly like Draco. Yes, I do love him greatly but I can't deny his faults and mistakes." Astoria explained nodded and left in the crowd.

"She's nice" Lily said as she watched the retreating back of Astoria Malfoy.

"Yes she is" Harry agreed and scratched the back of his head.

"We should probably get you two onto the train." Ginny exclaimed and the group headed toward the Hogwarts Express. With out any trouble Lily and Albus got onto the train and found an empty compartment to set their things in and went back to the train doors to wave to their parents. The train gave and loud whistle and lurched and just like last time Harry walked with the rain for a bit, watching Lily and Albus disappear in smoke. Ginny walked up to Harry and took his hand. Once their parents were out of sight Albus and Lily went back to their compartment where they were greeted by Scorpius, Rose, and Hugo, all of them beaming.

"Scorp" Al breathed and launched himself at him, "Don't do that again." He said and backed up.

"Sorry, dad was in a bad mood this morning." Scorpius explained and it was the lamest and truest explanation he had ever given.

"Hey Scorpius, I need to talk to you." An all too familiar voice called.

"Sure James" Scorpius replied and walked to the doorway where James stood behind Lily. The two stepped out and shut the compartment door behind them.

"I don't like having to say this." James said and scratched the back of his head, his gaze to the ground, "I met your mom today and I guess what I'm aiming at is I guess I don't mind you and Albus being friends" He trailed off, "Just if you hurt him or touch him you will be dead." He warned and stalked off quickly. Scorpius went back in and smiled.

"Thanks mom" He whispered and everyone's face lit up, they didn't need an explanation as to what had just happened.

"YES!" Albus crowed and jumped up in victory. It might have taken two years, but James had finally given into accepting Scorpius, even if only a little.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author Notes: I'm not sure if I like this. It took me forever and sorry I skipped over their second year, I just wan to get Lily incorporated into the piture.... I may or may not take this down and totally edit it, not sure yet. Or perhaps I'll go in and add a chapter or two between this on and th second one. And of course I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS!!!! THEY BELONG TO J.K. ROWLING!!!


	4. Too Late

Too Late

"Scorpius!" Albus called from across the grounds, Scorpius turned around and a smile lit up his face, "Wait up" He said as he neared the platinum haired teen. Scorpius stood and waited for Albus to catch up to him, his hair blowing every which way in the wind, his cheeks pink.

"Hey" Scorpius said as Albus reached him.

"Hi" Albus said and smiled, "Let's go" He said and the two continued walking, the green houses getting closer with each step.

"So, why have you been working to be so punctual lately?" Scorpius inquired on Al's most recent odd behavior.

Albus shrugged, "Trying to get on the teacher's good sides after last year." He admitted, his cheeks turning an even darker shade of pink. Scorpius chuckled as he remembered Albus' constant tardiness, jokes, multiple detentions, and other similar behaviors to that of what he heard his father and grandfather were like. Albus still hadn't explained why he had been so lazy during their second year, but didn't think much on it, he knew he would weasel it out of him sooner or later. "So, how are you?" Albus asked and tightened his scarf a bit.

"I'm fine Al" Scorpius replied and looked over at his friend, so many things were different this year from the last. Albus seemed to have been preoccupied more than usual lately, his grades were a good deal higher, and he didn't seem as lost, he had to know what had been going on. "Where have you been, I swear I only see you in some classes, the Great Hall, and in the halls occasionally." He asked.

"You'll see, you'll see" Albus assured his obviously worried friend with a smile.

"No, I'm not waiting for this answer Al. Tell me or I'll do something utterly stupid." Scorpius threatened and Albus burst into laughter. Scorpius' ideas of stupid were not all that stupid, but he had to admit Scorpius had a strong determination to win.

"Okay, I've been working on a surprise for you, and I've been getting some tutoring from my cousin, keeping an eye on Lily, I still wonder sometimes how she didn't end up in your house, and practicing."

"You know I greatly dislike surprises, and Lily is way too loyal and annoying to be in Slytherin, even if she is beyond cunning." Scorpius explained, the two laughed as they entered the designated greenhouse for that day's lesson, "And what have you been practicing?"

"Quidditch" Albus replied and gave Scorpius a bright grin.

"Wai- what?" He said and looked surprised. He wracked his brain to figure out when Al had joined the Gryffindor team. He remembered Al trying out, but he didn't remember the outcome. Besides Al telling him, he wouldn't know because he didn't enjoy watching quidditch at the school level, just playing it.

"I made it, sorry I never told you, but I was waiting till the Slytherin Gryffindor match for you to find out." Albus explained, hoping Scorpius wouldn't be mad or anything.

"Was that supposed to be my surprise?" Scorpius asked in hopefulness. Albus shook his head, a small smiled on his lips. Scorpius never liked that smile; it always meant Albus was plotting something and when the smile was that small it was always something that was actually full proof, "Well what position are you?" Scorpius asked in an attempt to distract himself from whatever his friend was plotting.

"Seeker" He said proudly. Scorpius sighed to himself internally, happy that Albus was seeker and not another position because his being a seeker meant they wouldn't interact seeing as he was a chaser.

"Congrats" He said warmly as Professor Longbottom called the class to attention. He taught them about a new plant that they would be planting and taking care of over the next few weeks that would be used in a potions class for the fourth years.

"So, you know anything about this potion?" Al asked casually as he and Scorpius headed over to get the needed materials for the lesson.

"A bit, I haven't gotten that far into the fourth year's curriculum." Scorpius replied nonchalantly as he grabbed a pot.

"You amaze me" Albus said in wonder as he filled the pot with the proper soil, "We're in third year and you're already looking into fourth year material, all on your own." He shook his head; Scorpius was devoted to his studies. He had once told him it had to do with his desire to prove himself to be better than his father, and to show people he was more than just a name and vault full of gold.

"I amaze you?" Scorpius asked in mock surprise, "I amaze the infamous son of Harry Potter, his son named after not one, but two headmasters of Hogwarts." He teased as he took a seat at a table to examine Al's job.

"Shut up prick" Albus mumbled as he sat next to Scorpius, "At least I'm not a constellation." He jabbed and Scorpius grinned. Albus was getting better at coming up with comebacks.

"So… Want to tell me what you're planning?" Scorpius tried again, he didn't like secrets or surprises, especially when it involved Al.

"Nope"

"Please?" Scorpius tried

"Nope" Albus was not caving on this one; this was going to be perfect. That is if his mother had no objections. His mother, the idea made him gnaw his lip, she was still not too keen on his friendship, afraid Scorpius might hurt him. He pushed the thoughts away, he knew his father and Scorpius' mom would help persuade her, she couldn't say to his dad for too long. He grinned; this plan was so going to work. He couldn't wait, he was excited to say the least and he couldn't keep his grin from turning into a smile.

His thoughts were interrupted as something hit the back of his head, he sat up straight and snapped his head around quickly. His gaze quickly fell to his silver eyes companion who was suppressing a smile. Albus glared at him and raised an eyebrow, "What was that for?"

"You looked awfully goofy, and a little lost, I had to bring you back to reality somehow." Scorpius defended innocently, as if he had only tapped Al on the shoulder.

"I think if you hit me any harder you might have sent me into a different realm." Albus said and Scorpius rolled his eyes, Albus had always been melodramatic.

"I didn't hit you _that _hard." Scorpius informed him and chuckled.

"Wanna bet?" Al tested and whapped Scorpius' arm.

"Hey!" And Scorpius hit Al back and they went back and forth for a while.

"Boys!" Neville warned.

"Sorry professor" They both said. For the rest of the class they were diligent in their task, neither of them interested in getting detention or loosing points for their houses. As the class drew to a close Professor Longbottom asked Albus to stay behind for a moment or two, Albus agreed with all confusion and glanced at Scorpius for help who shrugged. Once most of the class had filed out into the chilling outside Albus walked over to an old family friend. "Yes sir?" He asked almost tentatively.

"Could you give this to your little sister, she left it here yesterday." He explained and handed Albus his sister's Gryffindor scarf.

"Yeah sure, no problem" Albus said and stuffed it into his bag.

"Have a nice day" Neville said as Albus began leaving.

"You too professor" Albus said and left, "Let's go." Albus said to his friend who had been waiting for him.

"You okay?" Scorpius asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah, just thinking about a lot." Albus said and looked up at the cloudy sky, "I think it might snow today." He commented and smiled softly.

"Albus, what has gotten into you?" Scorpius asked, incredulous.

"You" He said and broke off at a run.

"Come back here!" Scorpius yelled and took off after his raven haired friend. With in moments he tackled his target who fell on his face.

"Ow" Al commented, "Get off"

"Nah, I'm comfortable." Scorpius said and stretched a bit.

"Well I'm not" Albus defied and rolled over causing Scorpius to fall off of him. Scorpius laughed and looked Al up and down, something was off in him and he didn't know what.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…. Really" Albus admitted and focused on something in the grass. Scorpius stayed silent, waiting for Al to go on, "Just, things are strange." He went on, dragging out the final word.

"Alby" Scorpius prodded, this wasn't Albus. This was more like the fidgety, awkward Albus he had first met.

"Scorp" Albus shot back and looked up at his pale friend. His normally tidy platinum hair was slightly disheveled and his silver eyes were pools, "That thing that happened last year…" He trailed off and comprehension dawned on Scorpius finally. Albus had been at one of the Gryffindors' celebration parties and had done or said something which caused a bit of an uproar with either his family or his friends. He wasn't sure what, he just knew it had upset quite a lot of people and Albus had stayed the night with him in the Slytherin common room.

"That was last year though" Scorpius tried to put forward the phrase of forgive and forget or don't live in the past, something along those lines.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change anything." Al said bitterly and stood up, readjusting his bag. He offered a hand to Scorpius who accepted it. Al pulled him to his feet and threw on a smile, "I'm sorry I'm so glum. I'll be fine in no time….. just wait." He said pleasantly and went up the stairs and into the entrance hall. Scorpius frowned and followed Al inside, he didn't like the response, but he was going to have to take what he could get. "Hey, I've got some studying to do with Rose and if you don't hurry you'll be late for transfiguration." He paused, "I'll see you in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Albus said and waved. His normal bright smile on, but that smile didn't reach his gem like eyes.

"See ya" Scorpius called after the retreating form of Albus Severus Potter. Al walked into the library and found Rose in her usual studying spot with her nose buried in a book.

"Hello Albus" She greeted without looking up.

"Rosie, help me please" Al asked and sat down across from her, she held up a finger and then set her book down. She studied him with a quizzical look.

"What is wrong dear cousin?" She asked accusingly, "You don't have any new big essays or tests."

"It's about Scorp" He said sheepishly and looked down. Rose sighed and glanced around quickly.

"I thought that had been resolved. Especially after you became so studious and joined the Quidditch team." She sounded bemused; distracting herself from boys worked all the time.

"They were wonderful distractions, but _nothing_ went away Rose." He stressed at her.

"You know it wouldn't be a good idea." She told him in a soft sing-song tone,

"I know, but, just" He stuttered and trailed off, irritated, "I mean, he's my friend… You hear me _friend_" Albus stressed, his large green eyes begging her to understand.

"I'm all for it, I thought you two were adorable since I saw you on the train. James over reacted obviously, and made it seem like you two were" She coughed and Albus immediately recognized the famous Weasley blush slowly creeping up on her, "But either way he misinterpreted and that whole ordeal last year; and now half of Gryffindor isn't happy with you. Trying to make sense of what's going on in your head might not be the best idea." She reasoned and Albus almost felt like he was talking to his Aunt Hermione.

"The train, yeah…" He trailed off again. Remembering Scorpius' devious behavior to get the truth and how it started him on a whirlwind since. He mainly blamed Lily for causing his idea of cute to be anything girly or little, which caused him to apply that to Scorpius for less than five seconds. What ever the reason he had been battling what things meant since, small smiles, comforting actions, every little thing he near analyzed to the grave and it had certainly grown worrisome. Rose leaned over and placed a hand over Albus', drawing him out of his thoughts.

"Just wait a little longer, alright?" She asked of him. Rose was kind and understanding, he was glad he had her for a cousin.

"Thanks Rosie" Albus said, very grateful and gave her a full blown smile.

"So, has he found out about your Christmas break plans?" Rose asked, steering away from matters she felt best left alone.

"Nope, and when he does I'm sure you and half the castle will know." Albus said a smirk on his face; he could see James yelling at him. He might have decided to be nicer to him and Scorpius because his mother had swooned him, but he still couldn't get past the Malfoy part. He scowled at the prejudice that had developed.

"Albus" Rose chimed and drew him from his thoughts again, "I'll see you at dinner. I have to go to Ancient Runes now." She said and left him. He felt it best to leave too so he could distract himself from what he shouldn't be thinking on yet, according to Rose. Yet, he thought on that word as he walked. When would that 'yet' be over, days, weeks, months, years, his steps faltered and he almost fell down a few steps. He didn't want to wait years to figure things out; he didn't think he could wait years, maybe two or three months, but years? Al shook his head vigorously and made a bee line for the Gryffindor tower, he needed to talk to a girl, a more girly girl who knew him better than anyone.

"Lily" Albus said as he came up behind her. She jumped and the girls she was with giggled.

"Yes?" She asked, turning around to look at her older brother, it sort of scared her how similar her older brother resembled their father sometimes.

"I need to talk to you, _alone_" He informed her; she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Be right back guys" She informed them and followed after Al who had started going to his dorm. After they were in and seated on Albus' bed she began talking.

"Fess up, is it James? Scorpius? Rose? School, what?" She questioned. Her brother rarely needed her advice, or help, but when he needed it, he really did need it.

"Scorpius" Albus said because Lily was not fond of the beating around the bush deal. She nodded prompting him to go on. "Lily" Albus paused and rocked his head from side to side thinking, "Do you remember during Easter last year when I was really…" Once again Albus trailed off, not sure on what the right word would be.

"Secluded, upset, depressed, tense, lost, preoccupied-"

"I get it, I get it. Yes that and more." Albus snapped and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes shut as he tried to pull up everything he had thrown into the corners of his mind over his Easter break last year, "I….. I" The troubled youth shook his head and stood up from his bed and walked over to a wall. He put his forehead against it and took a deep breath, "Lily" Albus croaked and she walked over to her older brother and put a hand on his back soothingly.

"It'll be fine Al" She feebly attempted to calm him down.

"No it won't Lily!" Al yelled and walked away from her, "I messed up" He said and sat on his bed again, "Lily" Al whined. Lily bit her bottom lip, Albus was in an odd situation and she was unsure of what to do. James would not help because he and Albus were back to not really speaking. Lily straightened her shoulders and walked over to her brother and wrapped him in a hug as best she could.

"Albus, talk to him" She whispered and rubbed his back soothingly, "You'll see him next class period. Scorpius is more than his father, and you know it." Lily reassured him and pulled back. Al looked up at her, she saw sadness, and fear, and want, and gratitude. "Albus Severus Potter, my favorite older brother" She paused and sat next to him, she placed her head on his shoulder and he placed his head on her head. The two sat there for a little bit, the silence calming Albus only slightly. "Are you in love?" Lily dared to ask and waited for his reaction, but there was none.

There was a long silence as the youngest boy in the Potter family sat and thought about that idea. Love Scorpius. Was it possible? He was only thirteen, but the thought made him feel a bit lighter. Albus swallowed and open his mouth a few times, trying to think of what to say, "Love?" was all he got out and he felt a bit stupid. Lily giggled and sat up.

"Maybe not _love_ love but Scorpius means a lot to you, right?" She reasoned, Albus nodded, "Then tell him, he won't hate you." Albus scrutinized her for a bit.

"I'll tell him over break, that way I'll have as much time as I need to get it out right." Lily smiled and threw her arms around Albus.

"You can be so cute sometimes." She said and kissed his cheek, "Scorpius would have to be stupid to shove you away for _anything_." Albus laughed and hugged Lily back.

"You are the best little sister." Albus said and let her go. She smiled at him and went for the door.

"Oh, one more thing Al," She paused and looked over her shoulder at him, "If he does shove you away, tell me and I'll jinx him." She told him and left.

"Nope, she isn't mom's daughter for one moment." Albus said sarcastically and laid down on his four poster, "Christmas break" He said and rolled over, "We'll see, we'll see" He murmured and his eyes slipped shut.

"Oy, Potter!" Someone yelled at him and he sat bolt up right. He looked around, by the door stood Kyle Finnegan, "Double D.A.D.A., let's go." Al nodded and grabbed his stuff and followed the fellow Gryffindor out.

"Thanks Kyle." Albus said as he caught up to him in the hallway.

"No problem Al" He said and grinned over at Al, "Listen, about last year a lot of us are really sorry." He voiced. Albus looked over, shocked, "We never meant to upset you the way we did, at least I didn't" He explained and looked over at Al sheepishly. Al gave him a small smile.

"It's ok; I can't exactly remember it very much anyway." Albus paused and took a deep breath, "I repressed it over break." He said and looked over at Kyle. What he said wasn't completely true, he could remember certain details, but that was it. The night itself was a big blur for the most part. Kyle nodded a sad look to him now.

"Talk to you tonight." He said and went into the classroom ahead of Al. Albus watched him walk over to his friends and sit down, immediately all of them started conversing. He wondered if perhaps there was still a chance to make any real amends with his fellow Gryffindors.

"Boo" Someone whispered behind Al. He jumped and bit his tongue, "I got you." The boy behind him teased and walked pass Albus and into the classroom. Albus raised an eyebrow and followed after the platinum hair quickly.

"Hey" Albus said and sat down next to Scorpius.

"Feeling better?" Scorpius asked.

"A bit" Albus said honestly, "Talked with Lily, and I need to talk to you about some stuff later." He said and Scorpius nodded. Just then the teacher walked in and called the class to attention. The goal for the day was to master a basic shield charm and a few new defensive spells. The teacher then lead them from the classroom to a large vacant room that had pillows lying everywhere. The students all figured the mismatched cushioning was so if any of their shields failed they wouldn't hit stone. As usual Scorpius and Albus paired up together.

"So do you want to try attacking or defending first?" Scorpius asked as he twirled his wand elegantly.

"I'll go with defense first." Albus chose and held his wand up slightly. Scorpius nodded, he raised his wand and took a deep breath. He liked pairing up with Al but disliked having to fight with him. Albus swallowed in full knowledge of how quickly Scorpius picked up on spells.

For a moment the two stood ready, their eyes locked securely. Then Scorpius' silver eyes flashed and Albus physically braced his body. He didn't hear what Scorpius shouted but quickly called out the incantation that their professor had instructed them to use. The spell bounced off of the invisible boundary Al had sufficiently created and ricocheted back towards Scorpius. Unprepared for the reaction Scorpius ducked and the spell hit the student behind him. Albus and Scorpius both winced as they heard the person who was hit yell in shock and crumple into a heap on a large nearby pillow.

"Oops" The two said in unison. They both apprehensively walked toward the victim who sat up and looked around, "Sorry" They spoke again at the same time. The girl looked behind her at them, the two boys weren't sure if she was mad or about to break into hysterics.

"Very good boys and Miss Porter!" The professor interrupted the small scene, "You have just demonstrated how the shield charm can also be used as an attack and how that particular spell renders your attacker immobile and dazed for just enough time for you to escape if needed. You have also just shown us that magic is not the only means of preservation in a battle." He said as he slightly beamed at Scorpius whose display of "hit the deck" had indeed preserved him from being hit. The teacher then glided away and the girl glared at Scorpius, smiled at Al and then stood up.

"Well, want to switch?" Albus asked nervously.

"Not yet" Scorpius said, "I want to get a hit in on you." Albus rolled his eyes, Scorpius no matter how much he denied it had a strong need to either win or have the upper hand.

As the bell signaling the end of the class the students filed out of the large room they had occupied for the past hour and a half. Scorpius and Albus shuffled out Scorpius' arm around Al's shoulder and leaning slightly against him. "I'm so sorry Scorp" Albus said.

"Quit apologizing Al." Scorpius said, "It was my fault my shield failed, and that was the point of the spell." The blond explained, not wanting Albus to beat himself up.

"The point was to render you breathless, not twist your ankle!" Albus argued.

"Well" Scorpius paused to think of something to say, "It can't be helped that I don't know how to fall on my back without hurting myself, not all of us are as talented as you." He replied and shot Albus a cheek grin.

"Shut up" Al grumbled, and Scorpius caught sight of a small tint of pink to Albus' tan cheeks.

"Different subject, what do you want to talk to me about. My attention is all yours."

"Oh yeah" Albus said as the news he wanted to tell Scorpius came back to the front of his mind, "Before I tell you. All the kinks have been straightened out and I have total and utter permission, you can't say or do anything against it." Scorpius raised one thin eyebrow in interest and his eyes silently urged Albus to continue, "I'm staying with you for the last week of the Christmas holiday." Albus said his green eyes bright. Scorpius stared at him speechless and breathless.

"NO!" He finally squawked, "You can't!" He went on, "I mean my dad, James. Then you and me at my house all alone" He cut himself off and looked at Albus. Albus gave him a 1000 watt smile.

"Scorpius, James will find out later and he's going to have to handle it. Your dad is going to be away on business and if he happens to come home early then your mom handles it and we get me out A.S.A.P. like I said, all the kinks have been straightened out." Scorpius used his free hand to rub one of his temples and groaned.

"This is my surprise, isn't it?" Scorpius asked begrudgingly.

"You bet, and it's too late to try and argue against your mom, or mine." Albus assured Scorpius as they approached a stonewall, "Hippogriff wings"

Albus walked Scorpius over to the nearest armchair and sat him down in it. "You shouldn't be in here." Scorpius reminded Albus.

"Yeah I know, too late though. Now elevate that ankle." Albus informed him.

"Why didn't you take me to Pomfrey?" Scorpius asked as he eyes his purple ankle.

"Because whatever she could do for that ankle so can I and without all the fussing and staying in the hospital wing for hours on end." Albus explained.

"Really?" Scorpius asked doubtfully.

"Yes, my mom use to be a healer before she had James. I picked up stuff from her over the years, James and I use to rough house when we were little, before he went off to Hogwarts." Albus explained as he sat down in front of his best friend. Some one yelled a greeting to Scorpius and Albus, they both waved. "It's kinda funny, I haven't been in your common room in over a year and they still treat me like I have been around the whole time." Albus mused as he started taking off Scorpius' shoe. His friend winced in pain as his ankle was moved. "Sorry" Albus murmured, "If you want I can take you down to her" He said absently as he took off the rest of the shoe.

"I'm fine, I want you to anyway." Scorpius said and gave Al a small smile. Albus blushed and looked down.

"I'm glad you trust me." The younger of the two mused as he pulled his wand out, "This may sting a little." Scorpius nodded and Albus said something he didn't quite catch. It did sting and he hissed softly, "You can open your eyes Scorp." Albus said smiling. Scorpius opened his eyes and once again silver met emerald. The previously injured moved his ankle experimentally, it didn't hurt. The he stood up, no pain. Scorpius proceeded to walk around and then ran around the common room.

"Wow, you really did fix my ankle. Thanks Al" Scorpius said and beamed over at Albus.

"Anytime" Albus replied and stood up.

"Leaving?" Scorpius asked a little confused.

"Do you want me to stay?" Albus asked, his gaze never leaving Scorpius.

"Yeah I do" Scorpius said as he crossed the room over to Albus in seconds. Scorpius then grabbed Albus by the hand and in a very unmalfoyesque way caused them to topple onto the couch in the Slytherin common room.

"Scorp" Albus voiced. He was surprised, but not upset in anyway.

"I've missed this" Scorpius explained softly, "And I'm a Malfoy, I have to get my way some how." He near purred as he readjusted himself so he was curled up into Albus.

"Superiority complex" Albus taunted and without thinking of it started messing with Scorpius' feather light flaxen hair. It made Albus happy that this was still so natural even though they were near fourteen.

"You know it" Scorpius said proudly.


	5. Let's Go

Let's Go

"YOU'RE WHAT?!" A teenager bellowed and grabbed a slightly younger boy by the elbow harshly, "You are not, not!"

"I would apologize, but I haven't done anything wrong." The younger of the two snapped and looked around for help, but there was no else in sight, "Look James the plans were made months ago, and it was his mom's idea."

"I don't care Albus; I'm not letting you go there!" James persisted and tightened his grip on Albus. The boy winced and glared at his older brother.

"They aren't going to eat me alive."

"You're right, not alive. They'll marinate you in the finest alcohol and then roast you to have a nice smoky taste." James explained, "Those three will be perfect snakes in their den eating a nice lion as if it were a gourmet mouse!" Albus couldn't help but laugh at James' analogy.

"Draco won't be there" Al assured his older brother with a smile, "Besides Scorpius doesn't like alcohol, so there's no way he would let me be marinated."

"What?" James asked, surprised by the knowledge, "He's a Malfoy, he lives in a mansion, his family has loads of gold, he's given anything he wants, he has one of the finest lives, and he doesn't like alcohol? What does he drink when he goes to fancy parties with his parents?"

"Scorpius is thirteen; his parents won't start taking him to parties for another two or three years." Al cleared up the first part of James' confusion, "He doesn't like alcohol because he says it isn't smooth, he doesn't like the sharpness of it or the texture the drinks have. It doesn't matter if it isn't in the least bit dry, it just doesn't appeal to all of his senses."

"When did you find this out?" James asked, forcing the idea of his little brother and the Malfoy heir fine dinning together somewhere secluded.

"When we went to the three broomsticks together during one of our first Hogsmeade he didn't order butter beer and I asked why. Then he went into a long explanation as to why, he kinda sounded like me actually." Al remembered thoughtfully. James frowned; they apparently were already rubbing off on each other, "James" The younger chimed as he yanked on his arm.

"No" James said flatly and dragged Albus away from the fire.

"Do you want to come and supervise?" Al asked smiling causing James to visibly pale, "I don't think Mrs. Malfoy would object to another guest, or as you put it another entrée for New Years dinner." James glared at Albus, who was smugger than James had ever seen him.

"You're still not going" James insisted firmly.

"Why?" Al asked bluntly.

"Because I don't trust him, you two are around each other during school. There's supervision and eyes and ears everywhere, there'd be no way for him to hurt you or" James stopped, once again banishing thoughts he didn't want.

"James, Scorpius won't hurt me. Or take advantage of me" Al paused to look up at his older brother, "Now please quit thinking whatever you're thinking!" He hollered and James fell over from surprise.

"Wha?!" James exclaimed.

"For being best friends with a pervert as you enjoy calling him since the train, which you had completely wrong by the way, your head seems pretty stuck in the gutter." Albus reasoned and James didn't deny anything. From somewhere off he heard Lily giggle.

"Guilty as charged!" Lily crowed as she bounded into the room, a sandwich clamed in her hands, "For his sentence he shall not be allowed to party for the remainder of the holiday!"

"Shut up Lily" James hissed, "My head isn't in the gutter, I'm just thinking of the worst that could happen because you won't because you're out in la la land" Albus frowned, he wasn't in "la la land".

"No I'm not" He protested.

"Yes you are!" James said, his vice rising, "And if you can't remember just remember our little game last year." He taunted and it was Albus' turn to then pale.

"HEY!" Lily yelled, not liking where the conversation was going, "Stop it! James he's going whether you like it or not, Albus last year means nothing now, remember they apologized and you guys are alright now." She intervened looking between her two brothers. Glancing between black hair and green eyes and dark red hair and brown eyes like hers.

"Am I interrupting something?" The three Potter children whirled around. There stood Scorpius, his platinum hair in a low pony tail, silver eyes glinting, his pale features accentuated by his normal black billowing cloak. Yes and no were said in response at the same time. Scorpius raised one thin eyebrow, "Which is it?" He asked. The three siblings looked at each other.

"Not anymore" Lily said finally, "Hello Scorpius." She said cheerfully and skipped out of the room while taking a bite of her lunch. Scorpius looked between James and Albus expectantly.

"It isn't my fault if you don't come back in one piece." James sniffed and also left. Scorpius looked over at Al confused.

"He is convinced you are going to eat me." Albus said shortly and walked over to his friend and his bag of things, "Shall we go?" He asked brightly and Scorpius just shook his head, James would never cease to baffle him.

"Lets" Scorpius said. Albus swung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed a handful of floo powder after Scorpius had gotten some. In seconds Al was standing in the grand foyer of the Malfoy Manor next to Scorpius.

Albus stood there amazed by the high ceiling and grand chandelier that hung above them. It wasn't half as enormous or breathtaking as Hogwarts, but he was still amazed. He stared for awhile, unsure of what to say or do. "Close your mouth Albus, it isn't very flattering." Scorpius whispered and Al jumped, "This way" Scorpius instructed and began leading the way toward his room.

"How old is your house?" Albus asked as he noticed all the ornate decorations and fixtures in the house.

"I'm not sure, I'd guess a few centuries maybe less." Scorpius answered as he glanced behind him at Albus, "Do you like it?" He asked.

"Yeah" Albus replied as he let a hand ghost across the ancient looking wall paper, "It's beautiful Scorp" Scorpius smiled.

"Thank you very much Albus." A female voice said happily. Albus faltered in his steps and turned around.

"Hello Mrs. Malfoy" He said quickly, he smiled. He wasn't sure what to say, all he knew was to be polite.

"Hello mother" Scorpius greeted lightly, "I was just showing Albus around." He explained. His mother smiled and nodded. The two stepped aside to let her pass.

"Lunch will be served in fifteen minutes." She called to them as she turned a corner.

"Come on Al" Scorpius said and motioned for them the keep going. Scorpius led them around the corner opposite to the one his mother had just rounded and to a door. He opened it and revealed a set of shining wooden stairs. The pair ascended the stairs to be greeted by another hallway. Albus continued to follow Scorpius down the hallway, around a corner on the right, then around a corner on the left to a hallway that ended. At the end was a large doorway, "Just through there is our room." Scorpius informed Albus and the two went to the end of the hallway and walked in. Albus' green eyes bulged.

The room was about twice the size of his with a large window and a balcony to walk onto. The walls were silver with a green trim on top and dark rosewood base boards. Scattered along the wall surrounding the large window were letters and pictures of snakes. There were two beds set up. One was a king that was hip height, with a deep emerald comforter, two fluffy pillows covered by silk green pillowcases that had a constellation embroidered on them, with a thick satin green canopy. The other was a double with similar bedding but black, its pillows were adorned with black silk pillow cases with lions embroidered on them, and there was no canopy. On the wall opposite two beds was a dresser that looked as if it belonged in the Victorian era. In the far corner was a large bookcase filled with books of all sorts. And on the ceiling was a small glass chandelier.

"Albus, your mouth is hanging open again." Scorpius informed the slightly shorter teen next to him.

"Sorry" Albus stammered and walked further into the room. He looked around again and then walked over to the black bed and set his bag down. Albus then proceeded over to the window and looked at the letters, surprised that they were ones that he had sent Scorpius. Only a few were from other people. One in particular was from his mother and another was his letter from Hogwarts. Albus couldn't help but smile, "Why pin them over here?" He asked glancing back at Scorpius who was lounging on his bed.

"That is where I received them, whenever there is mail specifically for me my, or another owl arrives with it at that window." Scorpius explained.

"So this is all the mail you've ever received?" Albus asked intrigued.

"Not everything, just the letters that are important to me or really made me smile. This house isn't my favorite place all the time." Scorpius replied, his silver eyes more distant than normal. Albus nodded and walked over to his bed and flopped down. He sank in and couldn't help but laugh. Scorpius looked over at him amused, "Yes these beds are very soft and feathery." He said and rolled over to see Al better.

"So uh" Albus looked over at Scorpius, "Lunch?" It was Scorpius turn to laugh and he sat up.

"Yes lunch, we mustn't be late" He said and headed for the door. Albus got off of his bed and followed Scorpius out.

As the contradicting pair entered one of the dinning quarters of the Malfoy house they were greeted by Mrs. Malfoy, her sister Daphne, and her daughter. Albus paused looking at them, stone still. Scorpius blinked and gave a small smile.

"Scorpius" Daphne and her daughter greeted. Both their voices were high and formal.

"Aunt Daphne, Marissa" Scorpius greeted his tone just as formal. Albus said nothing, he kept his gaze down, he felt Scorpius nudge him and he looked over. His friend nodded at his family slightly, his eyes telling Albus to do something.

"Good Afternoon" Albus said as politely as he possibly could to Scorpius' unexpected family.

"Good Afternoon" Daphne reciprocated and looked him over, "Mr. Potter" She said stiffly. Albus nodded curtly, his eyes locked with her only briefly.

"Who are you?" Scorpius' cousin asked. Her mother looked down at her, surprised her curiosity.

"I'm Albus Potter" Al replied and fought to smile.

"Oh!" She said as comprehension dawned on her, "You're the kid Uncle Draco was talking about" the girl exclaimed, "I'm Marissa Greengrass" She introduced herself in a rush, hoping her mother would not scold her later for her lack of manners.

"Shall we have our lunch?" Astoria asked in the pause that had followed. Everyone nodded and sat around the head of the long table, "Did you know Mr. Malfoy had tried to dispose of this table once his parents had finally left him the manor?" Astoria asked to make some conversation.

"Really?" Daphne, Marissa, and Scorpius all said intrigued. Albus cocked his head to the side, confused. He could not fathom why someone would want to dispose of such a beautiful and probably expensive table.

"Yes, he said it was surrounded by bad memories." She paused to take a sip of her tea, "We made a compromise, we keep the table, but it is never used while he is here. When he is here it is stored in this room where he doesn't have to see it." Astoria finished.

"What a shame" Commented Daphne.

"What kind of memories?" Marissa asked as she looked between the two older women. Albus saw Scorpius stiffen in his posture and frowned. He figured the memory had occurred while their parents had been in school, perhaps before the death of Dumbledore.

"That is not appropriate dinner conversation Marissa" Daphne informed her daughter before Astoria could even think of what to say.

"Why?" She dared to ask.

"It is not appropriate because it holds nothing lighthearted nor is it polite to talk of someone's past who is not present. We also know that Uncle Draco does not like talk of his adolescent life may he be the one talking or not." Daphne explained to her daughter. Marissa nodded and went back to eating. The group continued to eat in silence until the plates were cleared.

"Thank you for lunch Aunt Astoria." Marissa said sweetly.

"I hate to leave so soon dear, but I have other matters to attend to today." Daphne said as she hugged her younger sister. Astoria then walked her older sister and niece to the door. The door closed and Mrs. Malfoy walked back to the dinning area where Albus and Scorpius were fussing over something, "Something wrong boys?" She asked.

"No" Scorpius replied, "Not exactly." His mother gave him a look Albus knew too well, "They won't see dad or mention anything to him, will they?" Scorpius asked tentatively. The teens watched Mrs. Malfoy ponder this.

"I don't believe so" She said carefully. Then she nodded and left.

"See, I was right" Scorpius said as he stood.

"Aren't you always?"Albus reminded.

"Yes, yes I am" Scorpius said smugly. Albus laughed and let himself be led away by Scorpius up to his room. Once they were back in Scorpius' room he kicked the door shut, startling Albus.

"So, do you guys do anything special for New Years?" Al asked in curiosity.

"Yeah, we have five star food and wine and champagne. Then we have some high end people come. You know, basically a fancy dinner party." Scorpius explained, "Not this year though, dad isn't here." Albus nodded and sat on Scorpius' bed lightly.

"Why did you have a bed put in here?"

"For you obviously" Scorpius responded as if it was one the stupidest questions, "I mean there isn't a reason why you should be staying in a room alone in a house you aren't familiar with." He went on. Albus smiled.

"Thanks" He said and let himself fall backwards on Scorpius' bed, "You didn't have it bought and furnished and whatever just for me, did you?" He asked quickly. Scorpius chuckled and shook his head no.

"We just had it moved from a different part of the house to my room and had the pillow cases embroidered, I wanted you to feel at home." He explained nonchalantly and joined Albus on the bed.

"I'm with you; I don't think I could feel away from home, or at least in a strange place." Al said and glanced over at Scorpius. He seemed unfazed, but happier. Al opened his mouth to say something, but closed it feeling better not to. At least not right then. He didn't want to ruin the moment, or the peaceful silence with his messed up confession. Confession, was that what he was going to do at some point? He hadn't thought of it like that, but it made sense, sort of. Then it made him think of Lily asking him if he loved Scorpius. Albus swallowed and turned his focus to a strange shadow in the top of the canopy. He couldn't love Scorpius; Scorpius was his best friend, and a boy at that. Two of the many points Rose gave him as why not to think about what he was thinking about at the moment.

"Albus" Scorpius said softly, Al turned his head from the canopy to his pale friend, "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"Smartass"

"Right back atcha" Scorpius stuck his tongue out just a bit and Al smiled broadly, "Shoot" Albus said.

"If you could switch houses, would you?" Albus sat and thought about that one. Would he? He'd get to be with Scorpius, but then he wouldn't be surrounded by the brightness that was Gryffindor, nor would he be with his family. Though who said he had to switch to Slytherin? Al absently chewed on his lower lip.

"I don't know Scorp" Al paused and looked over, his friend looked torn, "Would you?" He countered. He saw Scorpius' face tighten and his eyes darken from their silver to that stormy blue silver. There was a long silence, and Al was almost about to tell Scorpius to forget it.

"I just might" He said just barely above a whisper. Al was shocked by the answer, "I just might, Al" Scorpius said again, "I'd go to Gryffindor, where you are. Where there aren't prejudices" Albus coughed at the statement.

"They aren't always as nice as you think, if you want nice go to Hufflepuff Scorp"

"Why do you say that?"

"Last year" Albus pointed out grudgingly, "I mean they've apologized for it, but that doesn't really change what they did." Scorpius frowned.

"Spill Al, you told me you'd tell me anyway" Albus groaned, Scorpius never forgot anything, especially if he said it. Why was that? Mentally he hit himself and jumped back onto the defensive.

"I take it back" Al said defiantly

"You want a repeat of the train?" Scorpius cooed. His eyes flashed brightly as he smirked over at Al. To emphasize what he meant he bent slightly over Al, poised to pin him.

"No" Albus replied quickly and flatly, he battled with himself on whether to tell and figured it be best to get it out of the way early and easy, "I don't remember all the details, it's pretty fuzzy." He said. Scorpius watched Albus as he collected his thoughts, "You have to promise you won't kill anybody, okay?" Scorpius furrowed his brow and nodded sharply; Albus took a deep breath and began.

"Last year, a bit before we went home for spring break the Gryffindors were celebrating a victory or maybe it was an almost the end of term party, something. Either way it was a party and when the end was drawing near I tried to go up to bed, but a couple of people talked me into staying down for the last party game, the big bang." Scorpius saw Al roll his eyes, apparently it hadn't been that big, "Reluctantly I joined, they promised the game was for laughs and nothing bad could happen." Albus let out a pitiful and bitter laugh, "I should have known better, but it was too late I had already signed the enchanted, more like hexed, piece of parchment. The enchanted parchment basically made it so no one in the game could lie. The game started when all who wanted to participate had signed. What happened was the person who's name was on the top of the list said a topic or a verb, said a person's name who was on the list and that person had to say the first thing that came to mind. Then that person would call out another person and so on till everyone had said the first thing that came to mind at the mention of that subject or verb. The last person called would choose the new topic or verb and so on. At first it was sort of fun, but then it got boring after maybe a round and a half. That's when the rules changed a bit. We couldn't say one thing, it had to be a whole thought and/or memory and it had to involve yourself." Albus swallowed and looked down, "That's when I tried to get out, the game wasn't the same. It was riskier, I wasn't the only one who wanted out, but once you're in you're in till the game is done."

"How does the game end?"

"It ends when the person who started the game is given the chance to say the end, and once the last person says whatever first came to mind the game reaches its end. It can also end if everyone unanimously agrees to end the game." Al said and looked at that shadow in the canopy again, his hands absently fiddling with the hem of his shirt, "This particular game ended because everyone wanted it to end, they wanted it to end because of something I said." Al swallowed and looked over at Scorpius, fighting the urge to cry, "Scorp" Al stopped. Scorpius' hand glided over to one of Albus' and squeezed it.

"I'm no prick, and I'm your friend." Scorpius said in encouragement and comfort.

"Yeah, my friend" Albus said and once again a bitter laugh escaped his throat, "Do you know how many times I've said that over the past months?" Al asked and looked at Scorpius. He frowned at Al, worried.

"Whatever is going on you can tell me, I'm not going to abandon you or anything." Scorpius said in reassurance. Al moved his hand in Scorpius' so their fingers were entwined; Scorpius looked at their hands for a moment before he looked back up at Al.

"Scorpius, Scorpius Hyperion" Al bit his tongue, "Whatever I said that night, upset a lot of people, and I have an idea of what I said from what Kyle told me and because my mind seems to breaking down blocks I put up." Al stopped again, unable to look at his friend. His best friend, the one person outside of his family who he would go to the ends of the Earth for, and as such he shouldn't want anything more of him. "It involved you" He said his voice caught in his throat and he squeezed the hand that was holding Scorpius'.

Scorpius' eyes searched what he could see of Al's face, trying figure out what he was thinking, but he couldn't tell for once "Al" He pleaded; he hated to see him so tense or wound up. Al's eyes flew shut, he didn't like what he had heard, not that it was bad, but it made certain wheels in his head start turning.

"Scorp" He replied, "The topic was 'Something I want to do before I leave Hogwarts' and-" he cut himself off, this wasn't right. Scorpius blinked, that didn't sound so terrible, "And for some reason I thought of that night I went to send that letter to my parents, the one about us being friends" He trailed off. Scorpius nodded, remembering the night.

"We almost" Scorpius remembered aloud and stopped, a light clicking in his brain. Scorpius blinked a number of times as his light engulfed his whole head.

"Yeah" Albus said and looked at Scorpius, the blonde sat there. Head whirling.

"Albus, you want to" He stopped himself; he understood, but wouldn't actually wrap his mind around it. Not that he didn't want to, but it was just unexpected. Albus sat there, tense, waiting for the yelling, or to be told to leave. Something, any kind of anger or disgust for what he had wanted, still wanted.

"Scorpius, you aren't mad are you? You don't hate me?" Al questioned quickly.

"I'm not mad, I can't be mad at you." He said and continued to wrestle with the new concept in his mind. Al waited apprehensively, his eyes large and scared but hopeful, "I don't think I could even think for half a second about hating you, nonetheless do so." Scorpius replied.

"Scorp, you do realize what I said…… Don't you?"

"Yes, yes of course!" He snapped, "I'm not a dolt Al. I'm actually offended that you thought I'd be mad at you for that." Scorpius went on, his brow furrowed as he calmed his mind down, "Albus Severus Potter" Scorpius concluded, "I don't care. Now finish the story." Al nodded.

"Well after I was called on and I said what I said." He bit his lip and looked at Scorpius again.

"What exactly did you say, so I know for sure I'm right." Scorpius informed. Al couldn't help but smile a small smile, Scorpius always wanted to be right.

"I said: I almost kissed Scorpius Malfoy once and I want to _actually_ kiss Scorpius before I leave because something about that almost moment was really nice….. Then people just freaked out. They started calling me names, saying I was a disgrace, telling me I shouldn't be in Gryffindor; it went on for a bit. Their yelling and sneering and the looks they gave me. No one really wanted to be around me because of that, and they all agreed I ruined the game and that I needed to go away, I did. I went to the first place I could think to go." Albus sighed and looked at Scorpius, "I went to where you were." Scorpius felt his heart jump and he smiled. Without thinking Scorpius leaned over his raven haired guest again and kissed him lightly and quickly, "Scorpius" Al laughed. He couldn't say anything else because his mind quit working.

"Yes?" Scorpius asked happily.

"What was that?" Al asked, even though he knew exactly what it was. Scorpius blinked, thrown off a bit by the question.

"A kiss, I believe." He answered and smiled at Al.

"We're friends though"

"Yeah"

"You sound like me"

"So?"

"So….. why?" Albus questioned and sat up on his elbows, turning his full gaze onto Scorpius. He could almost see the wheels turning in Scorpius' mind, his eyebrows were knit slightly together, and his silver like eyes didn't have their slight sparkle causing them to take on a more stormy blue shade once again. Al stared as his friend thought and he couldn't help but notice the sharp angles of Scorpius' face and how when he really thought made him look like a little kid. He noticed how one side of Scorp' jaw was tighter than the other; Albus figured he had his tongue between his teeth on that side. He saw how his smooth light pink lips were pressed together, but not firmly. He noticed how his companion's platinum hair hung softly around his face even when pulled out of the way. In those few seconds it took him to see all of those things he realized with a heart crashing, stomach plummeting realization that Lily was right, that James' fears were more real than he knew, that he, Albus Severus Potter, loved; truly loved the teen sitting next to him, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

"I kissed you as a promise that I could never treat you horribly. I kissed you as a sign that I'm not leaving. I kissed you because you wanted to kiss me." Scorpius paused and his gaze focused completely on Albus. Their eyes connecting instantly, Albus smiled softly and so did Scorpius. Each of them squeezed each others hand and Albus couldn't help but blush.

"My brother will murder me if he finds out." Al finally said and started laughing. Scorpius' smile grew and he laughed a bit himself.

"Well, you haven't been here for a full twenty four hours and you're already in trouble with your number one body guard." Scorpius mused, "Do you have anything to say about yourself Mr. Potter?"

"What _can_ I say?" Albus asked, "I just have a streak of breaking the rules."

"I think it's genetic" Scorpius teased and they both laughed.


	6. So?

"So, how was your visit?" Lily asked excitedly as she bounced lightly on her older brother's bed.

"Amazing!" Al said and smiled.

"Spill!" Lily gushed.

"He kissed me" Was the first thing Albus said, "And we shared a bedroom." Was the other thing he said. Lily laughed and fell into a ball on Albus' bed.

"Anything else lover boy?" she inquired after her fit of giggles was over with.

"Well yeah, his mom made some amazing food. The three of us went to see some Muggle fireworks because neither Scorpius nor his mother had seen them, and because it was probably the only opportunity they would get to see them. Scorp and I did a lot of quidditch work and talked a bunch about first year and before that. I also told him about that game that happened last year," Albus trailed off for a moment or two. "I mean it was pretty relaxed, time just seemed to fly past us."

"Sounds like fun," she said and smiled at Al, "So… he kissed you?" Lily said and smiled widely.

"Well sort of," Albus said sheepishly, "It was a kiss, but not a real one." Lily raised her eyebrows at him in confusion, how is a kiss not a kiss, "It was like this" Albus said and quickly leaned over and kissed Lily on the cheek before she could jump away, "Just on the lips instead of the cheek." She frowned in disappointment.

"That was it? No French kissing or holding hands, no kissing him back. Did you two even share a bed? Did you even tell him that you like him?" She fired out.

"Yeah that was it," Albus grumbled, "No I never kissed him back so there was certainly no making out or whatever. A night we did share a bed, it was one of Scorp's Malfoy moments. And no, I didn't tell him that I like him." Lily pouted. She had expected more, or at least for Albus to pluck up his courage and do _something_.

"What's a Malfoy moment?" She asked in curiosity.

"It's when Scorpius wants to make sure he has me still wrapped around his finger, he just double checks that he is still in charge. He has a superiority complex that he could have only gotten from his dad or grandpa, the Malfoy side." Al explained and she nodded. There was a silence between them for a while till Albus asked what had been going on while he had been gone. Lily shrugged.

"Not much really, I mean James had at least one fit everyday you were gone about why shouldn't be at Scorpius'. After a number of times mom finally butted in and asked him if he would rather Scorpius be here. That made him stop ranting or whatever, around mom at least." Albus laughed. He had a hard time imagining Scorpius staying at their house for an entire week, "What?"

"Scorpius staying here for a week," Lily smiled.

"He should!"

"No" Albus said flatly.

"Why?" She prodded.

"Because….. That would be suicide on both our parts," Al explained and sighed. A part of him wanted to invite Scorpius over to stay for a bit, to really meet his family and see how he lived.

"Don't let it get to you Al, he'll come over someday," Lily told him reassuringly. There was a knock on the door.

"Yeah?"

"Can I come in?" The person on the other side of the door asked.

"Sure," Al said and in walked Harry. Lily smiled at their dad and left.

"Sharp one she is," Harry commented. He grabbed Albus' desk chair and pulled it up to his bed, "Nothing bad happened I'll assume."

"No, nothing bad," Albus confirmed, "What's up?" he asked after a long pause.

"You and your sister," he commented.

"If you think we're good you should have a conversation with Scorp, he can practically read my mind half of the time," Al interjected with a big smile.

"I bet," Harry said lightly, "I guess I had better get to the point, hadn't I?" Al nodded eyes wide. Harry frowned a little, not sure how to approach the subject, "I'm only going to tell you this once, alright?" Al nodded in understanding, "If, you're uh… I and your mother….." Harry stopped.

"Dad if it's embarrassing, save yourself the trouble, please?" Albus asked. Harry squared his jaw and looked into his own eyes.

"Believe me, I wish I could," his dad admitted, Albus then frowned.

"Can I guess?" Albus asked, knowing that waiting for his dad might mean they'd be in his room for the next few hours. Harry gave his son a skeptical look before he sighed and nodded, motioning him to go ahead, "The birds and the bees?" Albus tested. Harry groaned and shook his head.

"Al," Harry said and looked directly at Albus. He got the feeling he might be looking into a mirror that showed one their past, "Remember when I told you it didn't matter to your mother and I what house you were sorted into?" Albus nodded, curious where this was going, "Well your mother and I don't care-"

"Stop," Albus blurted, catching onto his father's train of thought. His dad was either keener than he expected or his mother paid attention when he wasn't looking. Al swallowed thinking quickly, "Whatever you and or mom are thinking you are probably wrong." He defended.

"Albus, let me finish," Harry said calmly and ran a hand through his messy hair. Before he could begin again there was a cough from the doorway, alerting the two to the presence of another person.

"Hi James," Al said. Harry looked over his shoulder at his oldest son.

"Yes?" Harry said, wanting to go back to talking to Al.

"Mom says it's time to go," James informed them and left. Harry turned back to his youngest son, unsure if to continue or not.

"Al, this isn't your mom's doing," Harry said and sighed, "In short, I support you in anything and everything you might want to pursue." Al smiled.

"Thanks dad," he said and patted his dad on the shoulder, "You're great" Al smiled and hopped off of his bed. He grabbed his trunk, Harlow's cage, and his wand. The similar looking pair left before Ginny decided to come get them herself.


	7. You can't!

You Can't

"Scorpius!" Said boy looked up. He came face to face with brown eyes, freckles, and an irritated red head. He raised an eyebrow, not amused by her level of tone in the library, "What is this I hear about you having a girlfriend?" Lily sat across form Scorpius. Her lips were pursed and her eyes were sharp. Scorpius looked over his friend's little sister, trying to figure out why she was so upset. "Is it true?" she blurted, holding back her anger.

"Yes," Scorpius replied slowly. She slammed a hand on the desk, obviously furious. "Why do you care?"

"Because," she said. Automatically Lily bit her tongue, she couldn't tell him. Al had to be the one to tell him. Scorpius smiled to himself, Lily acted a lot like Albus, "Oh never mind. You're just being totally stupid, you're only fourteen," she came up with quickly and left, flustered. Scorpius chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny?" Scorpius looked over his shoulder; Albus stood there, slightly dusty and confused, "I found that book," he said and set it next to Scorpius' essay.

"Your little sister," Scorpius replied. Albus quirked his head and took his previous seat next to Scorpius, "She is distraught about my dating Anna Clearwater-Todd." Al nodded. He knew why she would be upset, and it was sweet. To him the situation was amusing because the relationship between Anna and Scorpius wasn't really anything, "Wonder why," Scorpius mused. Albus hid his squeak in a cough, Scorpius looked over amused.

"Probably one of her friends fancies you or something," Albus choked out, fighting his blush down. In agreement Scorpius nodded and went back to his homework and Albus did the same.

"Scorpius, Albus," The two teens looked up. Anna was walking toward them, a few books in her arms, school bag draped over her shoulder. Albus hadn't really met her before, seen her, had a few classes with her, and even heard a few tales of her mother from Percy. Of what he could tell she got her slightly pink cheeks and thick curly bouncy hair from her mother. One large difference though was that her hair was dark and not golden as his uncle had described Penelope's.

"Hello," Scorpius greeted kindly and motioned for her to join them. Gladly she sat down and smiled at them. Albus smiled back as best he could.

"Is it alright if I join you two?" she asked. Albus frowned inwardly; she wasn't as bright as her mother either, that is if his uncle had been completely truthful in his memoirs.

"Of course," Scorpius said politely. She smiled happily and got out some parchment and a quill. The three worked silently for a few minutes before Anna started talking.

"Is it true that you're gay?" she asked. Albus looked up, alarmed.

"Does it matter?" Al questioned as he returned his attention to his essay.

"Yes and no. I mean if say Scorpius and I want to double date I'd want to know who to pair you up with and I just want to make sure you aren't going to be getting in the way of anything. Then it doesn't matter because if Scorpius likes you then I like you too," she replied, unabashed. Albus looked back up at Anna, slightly perturbed.

"Why do you even think I'm gay?" Albus asked. She smiled at him.

"Rumors," Anna replied simply, as if she were talking about the weather.

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," Albus replied.

"That's why I'm asking if it's true," she countered.

"How do you know I wouldn't lie to you?" he shot back. Scorpius looked between them.

"I don't, but anyone who is a friend of Scorpius' has got to be honest. Not to mention your dad was known for his honesty, the scars on his hand are proof," Anna answered and smiled. Albus stood up, his chair clattering to the floor. Scorpius looked between the two, a little scared.

"Albus… Anna" Scorpius said calmly, trying to ease the tension.

"Scorpius," Albus said as he looked down at Scorpius. "I'm sorry," he said curtly and left without another word. He walked quickly through the halls of Hogwarts, watching his feet carefully, not paying attention to where he was going. He didn't look up till he felt the sun shining on his face. Albus took a few deep breaths and walked over to the lake. He sat down on the grassy slope leading to the bank.

His eyes scanned across the lake, over to the other bank. He looked up and watched a cloud pass by. "What the hell have I done?" he groaned.

"A lot." Albus's head snapped in the direction of which the voice came from. James grinned and sat down, "What's up?" he asked.

"I just royally blew off Scorp's girlfriend," Albus replied. James held back his smile.

"That git got a girlfriend," Albus shot James a warning look, "Sorry, you know how I feel about him and your relationship with him."

"What relationship?"

"You two are friends aren't you?" James asked, and did not try to hide his hope that he was wrong.

"Yeah, sorry," Al said. Not use to talking to James.

"Listen, Al." Albus smiled, James hadn't called him Al in a while. "If Scorpius is even half of what you make him out to be then he shouldn't be too mad at you for pissing his bird off," James said. Al threw his arms around his brother for what felt like the first time since he had started at Hogwarts. Reluctantly James wrapped his arms around his younger brother.

"You're probably going to go wash your mouth out ten times and brush your teeth about five for saying that, aren't you?" Albus asked after a moment.

"Yeah," James replied. Albus laughed.

"Thank you."

"I am your brother aren't I?"

"Yes, yes you are," Al confirmed and pulled away. The two sat in silence for a bit.

"So, why him?" Albus looked over at his brother, taken aback.

"Why him what?" Albus asked carefully.

"Why is he your best friend?" James clarified and looked Albus in the eye.

"He's my best friend because he is what I'm not, because when I was stuck on the express just staring, scared of what was ahead of me, he got me to move. Scorpius got me to open up and he opened up to me in return, he joked around with me and gave me reassurance," Albus explained. James nodded.

"Makes sense," he said and looked away, "Just be careful." With that he left. Albus watched him walk away. Unsure of what to think, had James just happen to walk past him or had he seen him from a distance and decided to come over.

Albus stayed outside, thinking, until he couldn't stay out any longer. The youth made a dash for the front doors and slipped in right before Headmistress McGonagall locked them, "Cutting it a bit short aren't we, Potter?" she asked crisply. Albus laughed nervously.

"Yeah, sorry Minnie," Albus said quickly. He walked into the Great Hall for a quick bite before bed. "Hey Rose," Albus greeted his cousin as he sat next to her.

"Hello Albus, Scorpius is looking for you," she replied and picked up a roll. Albus looked over at her, waiting for her to enlighten him. As he waited he grabbed a nearby fruit cup and started munching on it, "He said it was sort of important, but nothing to fret over," she said nonchalantly. The wheel's in Al's head started turning, debating if Scorpius was mad, or not.

"Know where he is?" He asked around a mouthful of fruit. Rose shrugged, "Thinking about a test or something?" she nodded, he swallowed. "Do you know where Lily is?" Again she shrugged. Albus rolled his eyes, grabbed a treacle tart, a roll, and then left. As he ascended the first staircase he tossed the roll into his mouth. Figuring if he didn't have to worry then Scorpius couldn't be too mad. Then again if he wasn't mad, why hadn't he found him? Not like he was hard to miss. Messy thick dark hair, bright green eyes, freckles; no one looked remotely like him, disregarding his siblings of whom he held small resemblances.

Upon reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady he had come to the decision that Scorpius was not mad at him, just unhappy. He said the password and walked into the common room, brushing his fingers off on his pants. He looked around the dark red and well furnished room. Nothing out of the ordinary that was till he spotted his school stuff sitting on a table with Kyle, Oliver Jr., Lily, and one of Lily's friends. He clearly remembered leaving his stuff behind in the library, he looked at the group again, figuring one of them must have happened upon it and brought it back. He shrugged headed for the stairs leading to his dormitory room.

As Albus walked into his ever familiar dormitory his eyes were greeted with a very unfamiliar sight. Scorpius sat on his bed. Legs stretched out, one crossed over the other, hands slightly behind him supporting his weight, his head tilted slightly up looking at the scarlet canopy. Albus blinked, thinking he must have cracked finally. Though the scene before him never changed, "Scorp," Al said.

Scorpius quickly snapped out of his subconscious at the sound of his name. He looked over to the door way, there was Al, head quirked to the side, emerald eyes peering at him confused. Scorpius smiled, "Hello," he said and sat up straight.

"Why are you here?" Albus asked as he walked into the dormitory, being sure to shut the door behind him.

"To talk to you," Scorpius replied. He patted Albus' bed. Albus walked over and sat cross legged next to Scorpius, "I think I should first tell you that I dumped Anna."

"What?" Albus choked, confused even more.

"I explained to her that if she is going to date me, Scorpius Malfoy, then she had to behave a certain way. That way did in no manner include listening to rumors and asking extremely personal questions involving me, my family, or you and your family. I informed her I date for a relationship, not to be used as a source of conversation, dirt, and or social gain." Scorpius took a deep breath, "To say the least it upset her very much, and before she could yell at me I told her we were through and that I hoped she had better luck next time." Albus blinked and stared at Scorpius, shocked.

"You dumped your girlfriend because she asked me if I was gay?" he asked, after piecing together what his friend had told him.

"Basically" Scorpius responded and stretched. "Now that you brought up that subject," he trailed off, looking over at Al. Al chewed on his tongue.

"Yeah," Albus said uneasily. He wasn't sure what to say so he let Scorpius do the talking.

"Are you?" Scorpius asked to the point. Albus looked him in the eyes, hoping he could avoid the question. Scorpius stared back.

Albus opened his mouth to answer, but something else came out, "How did you get in here?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

"Finnegan let me in." There was a long silence, "Answer me Al."

"Does it matter?" Albus defended. Scorpius eyed him cautiously.

"No" Scorpius replied slowly, "But that doesn't mean I don't care."

"Scorpius"

"Albus, why do we go through this every time?"

"Because I'm scared of losing you" Albus admitted before he could stop himself. Scorpius smiled warmly at him.

"Alby," he said affectionately. Albus blushed at the pet name. "I promised you I wasn't going to leave, ever," he reminded and hugged Al. Al hugged him back. They pulled away and Scorpius brushed some of Al's hair out of his eyes, revealing their real shine, "You need a haircut," he commented.

"Coming from the Malfoy who is wearing a ponytail." Scorpius punched his arm lightly.

"Want to get rid of it then?" he asked.

"What?" Albus commented, "You mean give you a haircut?"

"Sure, why not. I let you heal my ankle." Scorpius said.

"Scorp"

"I trust you." Albus blinked a few times before nodding. He got off of his bed and went rummaging through his trunk for a pair of scissors. After a few minutes he reappeared with a small pair of cutting utensils, "Why do you have those?" Scorpius asked as he eyed what Al was holding.

"I tend to be plagued by hang nails a lot, so I use these to get of them," Albus replied shrugging.

"They are clean, right?" Scorpius asked. Albus laughed and nodded. He motioned for Scorpius to turn around as he crawled back onto his bed. Scorpius turned around and took out his ponytail. Albus watched as Scorpius' signature platinum hair fell out of its binding to his shoulders. Albus swallowed and tentatively started cutting Scorpius' hair.

"I am…..sort of," Albus said randomly as he cut at some hair above Scorpius' ear.

"What?" Scorpius asked and glanced back.

"Gay. Kind of," Albus clarified. Scorpius turned fully around so he was facing Al.

"Sort of?"

"Yeah," Albus confirmed and measured out the hair surrounding Scorpius' face to make sure he wasn't uneven. "Done," Albus said. He set down the small scissors and ran a hand through Scorp's hair. It was now gently layered, falling slightly past his eyes in the front, and slightly shorter in the back. Scorpius ran his hands through his hair, getting a feel for the hair cut.

"I like it," he mused.

"You haven't even seen it." Scorpius shrugged, "I hope everyone else likes it," Albus said.

"It doesn't matter, as long as I like it, you like it, and it doesn't piss off my parents," Scorpius said, "So, who's the lucky guy?" Albus blushed profusely. Before he could stutter out a response Oliver and Kyle walked in.

"You two might want hide him before the other guys come up" Kyle said pointing at Scorpius. Albus squawked and jumped off of his bed and started throwing things out of his trunk. He stopped as he stood up with a water like cloth in his hand. Scorpius looked at Al perplexed, but stayed quiet as Albus threw it over him haphazardly and put a finger to his lips. Three more Gryffindor boys entered the dormitory.

"Hey," one of them greeted.

"Have a good day?" another asked. The other said nothing, only collapsed onto his bed, asleep, "Just got out of detention," one explained. Kyle, Oliver, and Albus all nodded.

"So Albus, have you heard what that Goyle kid is going to do?"

"No, I haven't Tom, should I have?" Albus asked as he sat on his bed, covering up the remains of the hair cut he'd just given Scorpius.

"I assumed you would have heard, seeing as Scorpius is your," Tom trailed off.

"My what?" Albus questioned crossly.

"Nothing," the other conscious Gryffindor who had just entered piped in.

"Shut up," Albus snapped, his focus trained on Tom.

"Well, I don't know. I heard around Scorpius dumped his bird to go ask you out. Heard things about how you mean more to him than her," Tom answered, a little too casually. Albus blushed horrifically, and he cursed his Weasley genes profusely.

"Scorpius is straight, and he broke up with her because she wasn't up to his standards," Albus explained through gritted teeth. "Now what is Goyle up to?" he asked, direly wanting to change the topic.

"He's going to do something to the gargoyle that leads to the headmistress's office," Tom replied. Albus' eyes bulged. The guy was nuts to think he could pull one over on Minerva McGonagall.

"You're joking!" Kyle hollered and began laughing.

"Nope"

"Oh man, he's going to be in deep shite," Oliver commented and smiled broadly.

"You can say that again," Albus agreed. Wondering how he was going to get Scorpius out of the dormitory. The five of them laughed.

"Whatever he does, it won't be half of anything that your uncles did while they were here." Albus laughed.

"Nope, no one can beat Fred and George. Well, perhaps the marauders could," Al mused and looked over at Scorpius, even though Scorpius couldn't be seen. Tom yawned and stretched.

"I'm going to bed, that old fart Filch was in charge of my detention. He made me do all this cleaning by hand for hours, so I'm beat, night," Tom said and ran a hand back and forth through his hair before grabbing some bed clothes and disappearing behind his canopy.

"G'night Tom"

"Night Charlie" Tom said.

"Good night," Kyle, Oliver, and Albus chimed. Tom waved a hand through his curtains as he tossed out his pile of school clothes.

"Well I'm going to do some studying," Charlie commented and sat down at a desk in the dormitory. Kyle sighed and glanced toward where he suspected Scorpius still was.

"I think I'll head to bed too," Al said as he grabbed toothbrush, toothpaste, and a change of clothes. He gave Scorpius a look that clearly told him to follow. Gently Scorpius got off the bed and followed Albus as he went into the bathroom adjacent to the dormitory.

"Why hide me?" Scorpius asked quietly once the door was shut.

"Lets just say Tom and Henry don't particularly like Slytherins. Charlie would have been fine, but those two not so much." Scorpius nodded, figuring Henry was the one who had went to bed once he had entered the dormitory.

"Do they always treat you like that?" Scorpius asked, his attention directed toward Al.

"Yeah, Tom does. He still hasn't gotten over the game, so whenever presented with a moment to pester me about homosexuality he takes it," Albus responded and shrugged, "I'm use to it." Scorpius frowned.

"You shouldn't let him," Scorpius stated as he slipped the invisibility cloak off.

"Why shouldn't I? I am kind of gay anyway." Scorpius frowned again.

"I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave." Albus sighed as he stuck his toothbrush in his mouth. He was brave, just not in the way other people were.

Albus spit and rinsed his mouth, "You might have to stay the night here, is that ok?" Scorpius nodded from his spot against the wall. Al gave a small smile and changed quickly, "Are you alright sleeping in your uniform?"

"No" Scorpius replied. Albus frowned, "Don't worry" Scorpius replied. Albus characteristically tilted his head to the side. Scorpius smirked in response and stripped down to his underwear. Albus felt himself blush from head to toe, and once again cursed his mother's side of the family, "Everything alright, Al?"

"Yeah Scorp," Albus replied and walked toward the door, "Put the cloak back on" He commanded. Scorpius grabbed his clothing and wrapped the cloak back around himself.


	8. The Pact

Albus stretched, barely aware of the body curled up next to him. He yawned and looked down at the platinum blonde hair that splayed gently around his friend's face. Albus smiled and just watched the boy beside him for a while. He was beautiful, and even more so in sleep. All indications of worry and stress vanished and in place was content, peace, and happiness. Albus hadn't really paid much attention to Scorpius while he slept till now, and he wished he had paid more attention.

"Scorpius," Albus whispered softly.

"Mmm," Scorpius murmured, "Don't go," he mumbled, barely audible. He curled up a bit and his hands held onto Albus. Albus gave a soft, worried smile and ran a hand through Scorpius' hair.

"You need to wake up," Albus cooed gently.

"No, it's comfortable in here," Scorpius argued. Albus chuckled at Scorpius' reaction. He didn't want to leave either, but it was either be caught or have a very upset Scorpius later.

"Don't you have a class this morning?" Albus prodded. A few moments passed before Scorpius squawked and sat up fiercely realizing that Albus was right. Quickly Albus clapped his hands over the Malfoy's mouth to keep him quiet.

"Get dressed and I'll sneak you out, alright?" Scorpius nodded in agreement. In minutes the pair was slipping out of the Gryffindor tower and heading toward the Great Hall. Albus looked around and snatched the invisibility cloak off of Scorpius.

"What is that thing?" Scorpius asked as he saw the cloth wave in the air.

"An invisibility cloak, it's an heirloom," Albus explained and shoved it into his bag. "Sleep ok?" he asked as he started walking again.

"Yeah, I did actually," Scorpius replied as he caught up with Albus. "Now, who's the lucky guy?" he inquired as he purposefully ran into his green eyed companion. Albus rolled his eyes, he should have known better than to hope that Scorpius would forget last night's conversation. The blond never forgot anything and was nosy.

"Someone very close and special to me," Albus explained as he looked to the ceiling. He couldn't tell Scorpius, not out of fear of losing him, but because what they had made them both happy and comfortable and that was what mattered more to him. The last thing he ever wanted was to lose his best friend, especially to a concept as trivial as a crush.

"Does this special guy have a name?" Scorpius pressed. Albus nodded biting his tongue the whole time, "Mind spilling who?" Albus again nodded. Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows and chewed on his lip, determined to get the desired information. "Will I ever find out?" The Gryffindor shook his head, his lips pressed tight together. Scorpius looked around, trying to get an idea on how to loosen his friend's lips. A grin slowly spread over his face as he grabbed Albus and whirled him into the nearest classroom.

"Wha-?" Albus exclaimed, startled.

"Tell me, there is no one to over hear in here."

"You have a class," Albus reminded quickly, almost tripping over the words out of panic. Scorpius' pale hand made contact with his forehead with a loud noise. Albus winced slightly.

"Later then, I'll get what I want and you know it Albus," Scorpius warned, his almost silver eyes sharp and gaze clear into Albus's guarded eyes before darting out. Albus released a sigh of relief and leaned against a nearby desk.

"Now what am I gonna do?" he groaned to himself. "Scorpius is going to find out, he might go, our friendship is going to crumble! GAH!" he exclaimed exasperatedly as his hands ruffled through his hair. Albus sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time. He worked to compose himself, and then left the classroom to get some breakfast. As he entered the Great Hall Oliver called to him from the stairwell. Albus turned around and waited for his fellow Gryffindor to catch up.

"So," Oliver trailed off, giving Albus "the eye". Albus shook his head. Oliver hung his head and shook it while he placed a sympathetic arm around Albus. "Albus Severus, I don't think I've ever met a teenage boy as love deprived as you." Albus looked over at him, holding back laughter.

"This coming from the almighty Gryffindor who is desperately head over heels for my bookworm cousin," Albus pointed out, a smile dancing over his face. Oliver gave him a sly look as he threw him into a playful headlock and gave him a nuggie. When Oliver let go Albus shook his head. "You know those have no affect on me," he reminded his classmate. Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Let's get breakfast lover boy," Oliver teased.

"Why do people keep calling me that?" Albus half shouted at Oliver who was walking away from him.

"Because you're hopelessly in love with the person who's right next to you," he explained as Al caught up with him.

"Well then you're just as much of a lover boy as I am," Al quipped.

"Fine, here's what we do. We make a pact-"

Albus cut him off with a hand and a look. "We're only fourteen," he reminded. Oliver nodded but continued.

"As soon as one of us gets who we want then the other has to try to get who they want. That way we can ditch that stupid title at the same time." Al raised a dark eyebrow as he took a seat at a nearby bench.

"Fine, but only because it is just that ridiculous," he agreed. Oliver grinned in triumph as he sat down next to Al.

A/N: Thank you to all my readers for reading and watching my story! I also apologize to my readers for the overly delayed continuation of this story x_x I hope this will satisfy you a little, and I soon hope to have more up because I'm getting back into writer mode :D


	9. The Train

"Hey Aaaaal!" A familiar and confident voice yelled out towards the darker haired boy as he opened the compartment door, "My bestest friend in the whole world, want to help your good, ol' buddy Oliver out?" Oliver gave Albus one of his best grins as he wrapped an arm around his shorter friend's shoulders. Al raised an eyebrow and shrugged Oliver's arm off and finished putting his trunk up above the compartment seat.

"Oliver, for the last time I am _not_ helping you get Rose," Albus said for what felt like the thousandth time. Oliver gave Al a sore look and sat opposite of him. He was determined to get Rose, and not only for his own happiness. Al could be brilliant, but he was totally helpless in the department of love.

"Hey guys!" Came a sweet call from the doorway. Oliver smiled and turned around, his best smile on his face.

"Hi Rosie," he said as suavely as he could. Albus rolled his green eyes at Oliver's antics; Rose was not one for cheesy ploys. Rose gave him a strange smile and glanced at Albus who was watching amusedly.

"Hello," Rose said a bit uncertain, "Oliver," she squeaked. Oliver bit his tongue to keep from laughing and Al once again rolled his eyes. "So… Uh," she stammered. "Where's Scorpius?" She asked in an attempt to rid herself of attention.

"Behind you Miss Weasley," Scorpius chimed slowly and calmly. Rose jumped and stumbled forward in surprise and ended up running into Oliver in the process. Scorpius laughed as Rose flushed and apologized before she sat down in the corner of the compartment across from her cousin. Scorpius looked over at Albus who was wearing an expression that seemed crossed between worry and frustration. Then the blond glanced at Oliver who looked positively giddy.

"Hey Scorpius," Oliver greeted and sat down next to Rose. Rose inhaled and concentrated on the scenery outside the window in an attempt to ignore Oliver. Albus seemed to become slightly panicked and quickly excused himself to go to the bathroom. Scorpius let one thin eyebrow rise as he watched Albus leave before turning to Rose and Oliver, debating if he should even ask.

"Albus is just a little flustered; I think it has something to do with that crush of his," Oliver explained coolly as he stretched and reached an arm behind Rose. Scorpius was immediately interested and even Rose drew her attention from the scenery passing by the train window.

"Pardon?" Rose commented, confused and oblivious to Oliver's ever tightening one armed embrace. She was quite sure her plan for Albus had worked effectively, he should not have been divulging into romantic fantasies so he wouldn't get hurt or distracted from what is most important. Romance is useless if there is nothing else to stable one's life, it worked perfectly for her. Her curiosity gained the better of her instincts about gossip and privacy and pressed Oliver to divulge any information he knew.

"What now?" Scorpius asked intrigued. His full attention was on Oliver since he had failed time and time again in his quest to wrench the information from his green eyed companion. Scorpius glided and sat down next to the Gryffindor to get all the details. He shot an impish look between the two on either side of him.

"I really shouldn't say anything," Oliver said rather aloof. The youth had to fight to keep from grinning ear to ear, especially with Rose so close and hanging on his every word.

"Oliver," Scorpius began but was cut off by the opening of the compartment door. The blonde slid away from Oliver and pretended as if he was fixing something about his appearance. "Hey Albus," Scorpius greeted casually.

"Hey," Albus returned just as casual.

"Soooooo." Scorpius leaned over and peered at Al who had just sat down across from him. "Care to finally enlighten me?" Scorpius said accusingly and raised a manicured eyebrow; Rose also gave him an accusing look. Albus' face scrunched up and he glared at Oliver who was trying his best to not pay attention. "I'm over here," Scorpius reminded.

"Oliver, you cheap skate!"

"Oh have more courage you cowardly lion." Albus huffed and crossed his arms over his chest before sharply turning his head away.

"What's going on here?" Rose asked as she glanced between the three boys. As she waited for a response she finally realized Oliver's arm and swatted at the hand on her shoulder.

Oliver jumped and pretended to look hurt before he began to explain, "Albus and I just-"

Oliver was cut off by Albus who blurted "We're debating if we should be cross dressers or porn stars when we're older!"

"What?" Rose shrieked and Scorpius fell onto the floor laughing. Oliver groaned and placed the hand that Rose has whapped over his eyes.

"Albus Severus, what am I going to do to you?" Oliver annunciated.

"Well, hopefully not his make-up," Rose giggled. Oliver grumbled and stormed out of the compartment. "Really though Al, what's going on?" She pressed, and reminded Albus very much of his Aunt Hermione when she had problems understanding his Uncle Ron or his cousin Hugo.

Albus shrugged. "Secrets." Rose made a noise and turned back to the window as Scorpius finally pulled himself off of the floor.

"Secrets don't make friends Al," he poked as he sat next to his friend.

"You'll find out someday," Albus assured. He glanced at Scorpius who did not look happy.

"I've told you about my infatuations and relationships," Scorpius argued. "You know I do not care if your interest is guys or girls!" Before Albus could retort Oliver came back in, a look of victory on his face.

"Guess who just invited me to your dad's birthday celebration," Oliver near crowed. Albus' large green eyes seemed to double. "James," he taunted and took a seat next to Rose. She glanced over.

"How nice of him," She commented, her voice a bit higher than normal and almost uneasy. Once again Albus' eyes grew larger and he seemed to have stopped breathing. Scorpius pinched him and Albus yelped.

"What was that for?" He exclaimed irately.

"I thought you were having a panic attack of sorts," Scorpius said in defense.

"He probably was," Oliver said triumphantly. Rose and Scorpius both furrowed their brows.

"Now why would that be?" Scorpius asked, more to Al than to Oliver. He did not try to hide his accusation that Albus was not being honest with him.

"Once again," Oliver began, "It is that crush of his." Albus scowled at Oliver.

"Albus you know that infatuations shouldn't be kidnapping your priority, your future should be," Rose informed him with a calm yet persistent tone.

"Infatuations?" Scorpius choked out.

An almost uncomfortable silence fell over the compartment at Roses' statement and Scorpius' unexpected outburst. Albus swallowed and tried to become invisible, Rose slipped back to the window and the passing scenery. Oliver coughed and looked around absently while Scorpius sat frozen. He knew Albus like one particular boy, but he hadn't realized that there could be more than one. Scorpius' face went from annoyance to confusion; it wasn't Albus' secret or secrets that bothered him. What did bother him were Albus' apparent infatuations. The platinum blonde Slytherin couldn't decide if he was afraid he would be bumped to Al's number two person or if he was worried about competition. Minutes went by before Oliver spoke up, deciding he had caused enough grief for Albus. "So, uh….. What's up Scorpius?" The Gryffindor asked the stunned Malfoy heir. Scorpius wasn't sure how to answer so he shrugged. Albus shot an apologetic glance at Scorpius. In return he received a small smile from his friend. "Well, I'm going to go say hi to Kyle." Then Oliver slipped out of the compartment.

"There's only one," Albus mumbled. Scorpius was the only one; Albus bit his lip at the notion. Scorpius seemed to brighten at Albus' words. Rose looked over and couldn't help but smile. Albus was helpless, and Scorpius might be as well.


	10. Oh, Wonderful part 1

Oh, shoot

It was the first after noon of the New Year and Al sat in the snow, his newest sweater from his doting grandmother keeping him warm, staring at the clouds, his mind concentrating on the night before.

* * *

Scorpius stood there, adorned in black, beautiful as ever. He was talking with a girl Al recognized as a Ravenclaw in their year. She was pretty Al had to admit, she had soft brown eyes and silky waist long chocolate hair, with smooth lightly tanned skin. She was in a dark red dress that was a little longer than her knees. The dress was probably made of a very expensive material and it shined the slightest in the surrounding light, it looked a bit like water.

She was petit and friendly, but Al wasn't too fond of how friendly she was toward his friend. She kept smiling at Scorpius and Al could tell she was blushing underneath the make up she was wearing.

"Albus," he turned around and saw Scorpius' little cousin smiling at him, he smiled back.

"Hello Marissa," he said kindly, "How are you?"

"I'm fine, the party isn't what it normally is, but I prefer it. There are fewer adults," she said, she quickly clapped a hand over he mouth and looked around.

"It's fine, I won't tell your mom," Albus assured sweetly and held in his laughter.

"Thanks," she said sheepishly, "So, do you like Kimi?" Al looked at her confused, "The girl with my cousin." Al nodded in recognition as he fit her name with her face. She had been in one of History of Magic classes, she was smart and talented. She was probably a pureblood; why else would she be here and obviously flirting with Scorpius? "She's single and really pretty," Marissa commented as she watched Albus scope out the "competition".

"No, I don't particularly think much on dating," Albus admitted. He had who he wanted to date so close to him he didn't bother actually trying to change their relationship. He gnawed on his lip at the thought, he was supposed to since Oliver had gotten Rose to go on a date with him. Nothing was official yet, but Albus had no doubt that it would be soon, he had seen it coming since the train ride home at the end of last term.

"Really?" She asked, disbelievingly, "Well whether you do or not, if you're interested in her you might want to make a move before Scorpius does," she said as she continued to observe them. Al glared down at her briefly before he looked back at Scorpius. Absently he chewed on his tongue as he watched them talk and laugh. He saw her bounce on the balls of her feet a little, probably excited by something Scorp was talking about. He didn't like it and before he could decide to go over to them he tasted blood in his mouth. He flinched as the pain in his tongue caught up to his mind, "You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Al mumbled, "I'll be right back" He said as politely as he could and headed to the bathroom.

* * *

"There you are" Albus twisted his back to see Scorpius walking over to him through the snow.

"Here I am," Al said and smiled.

"Feel better?" Scorpius inquired as he sat next to Albus and pulled his cloak tight around himself.

"Yeah" Al replied and noticed Scorpius' eyes were like the clouds, but with more light.

"Why are you out here?" Scorpius asked, not wanting more silence between him and Al.

"Thinking," Albus answered. Scorpius frowned. Al pretended he didn't notice, hoping to change the mood as fast as possible.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Al lied quickly.

"You've been like this since last night, and you can't lie to me." Al looked over at him begrudgingly. Scorpius sat there, patient. He had been able to get most of everything out of Al –besides his secret crush— so he was sure that he was going to get this most recent problem out of him. It was that power that came with being a Malfoy and the ambition that came with being a Slytherin.

Albus looked back at the clouds and let himself go back to last night again.

He walked out of the bathroom, his mouth free of the taste of blood and looked around. Scorpius and Kimi were no where in sight. He stood on the balls of his feet and looked around, hoping to see a glimpse of platinum hair, but saw none. He frowned and walked around for a bit, hoping that he would run into Scorpius. It was half till midnight and he wanted to be with Scorp when the New Year came.

Without any luck finding him inside Al headed toward the large back door to see if they were outside or something. That's when he found them, the cold wind blowing harshly causing Kimi's hair to swirl around them, Scorpius' arms loosely around her waist while her hands were tentatively on his neck, their lips connected. Al gagged and dashed away. He didn't want to see that anymore, or be sick.

He entered the foyer of the Malfoy mansion where a few couches had been set up around the fire. He near collapsed into the corner of one and focused on the fire and its warmth because he was cold all over. Al was practically alone besides the few adults scattered around making small talk.

Once his heart beat was out of his ears he looked around and saw that it was five minutes till the first of January. He groaned, he had wanted to kiss Scorp on the cheek or if fate liked him, on the lips again, but not anymore. He couldn't even think about Scorpius and kissing anymore with that picture in his mind.

"Albus!" Albus looked around at his name and saw Scorpius rushing over toward him, "What are you doing here all alone, it's almost midnight!" He exclaimed and dragged Al from the couch.

"Yeah," he said and let himself be dragged by Scorpius outside, "Where are we going?"

"Here," Scorpius said and pointed to the sky. Albus looked up and in no time there were lights of all colors flashing around in the sky, they were dancing, and Al swore he could hear singing. He stared in awe at the show above him. Many other people surrounded them as they saw the spectacle that was announcing the New Year, and then it started flurrying, the first snow, "Happy New Year Alby" Scorp whispered, but Albus didn't hear. He was too astounded by the show.

* * *

"Last night, how did it happen?" Al finally spoke. Scorpius looked at him confused.

"How did what happen?" He asked.

"The lights, the music" He said and motioned to the sky.

"My mother and aunt are very talented." He explained, "They do it or something like it every year. It is similar to muggle fireworks, but prettier and not noisy." Al nodded and kept staring at the clouds. He had been the first person to take Scorpius to see muggle fireworks; he had taken Mrs. Malfoy too. That was the one year that Mrs. Malfoy hadn't done a light show, it had also been the year the Malfoys' hadn't had a New Year's party. It had actually been his first visit to the Malfoys' now that he thought about it. A lot had happened on that visit.

"Albus, what's wrong? Talk to me," Scorpius prodded and put his head on Al's shoulder. Absently Al rested his head on Scorpius' and he shut his eyes. The kiss flashed through his mind again and he jerked away. Scorpius sat up straight and looked at Albus surprised. Al looked over at Scorpius, his eyes piercing through him ten times worse than the cold and he put his head on his knees, his hands clutching at his messy black hair.

"Did it ever occur to you that I wanted to kiss you for a reason? That first time I visited." Al asked quietly after a long pause. Scorpius blinked and tilted his head to the side, he hadn't thought much on it since. He hadn't really wondered why, he had figured it was something like he wanted the experience or was curious or perhaps just wanted a deeper connection, but he really didn't know why. He knew why he kissed Albus, it was an attraction. Perhaps not a strong one, but it was enough that when given the opportunity he would have taken it. "Did it?" Al snapped. Scorpius kept a straight face, trying to fight away his alarm. Albus had never really been mad before that Scorpius could recall.

"No it didn't" Scorpius admitted. Al sighed and hauled himself to his feet.

"Why do you think Kimi wanted to kiss you?" He asked irritated and looked down at his best friend. Once again he saw that look of deep thought on Scorpius' face and knelt down in front of him, "Scorp," he said and Scorpius focused onto him, "If you can't figure either of those reasons out, you're lacking a lot of sense." Scorpius was offended.

"Excuse me Albus, I'm not an occlumence nor do I have a little sister to open my mind to the workings of a girl's mind," Scorpius defended and then paused_ Kimi_, "How do you know-" He cut himself off. Albus must have seen and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Yeah," Al said sharply, holding his anger back. Not that he had a right to be angry, Scorpius wasn't his, but he couldn't help but be…. What was he? He shoved that thought away and focused on what was happening right then.

"Al" Scorpius said confused, "Why does what Kimi and I did matter? You've seen me with other girls before." Scorpius knew he hadn't dated much, he had more important matters, but he had had a few brief flings. As he thought on them he couldn't recall a time when Al had openly been happy about any of them, especially Anna.

"Because" Albus snapped, "I don't like seeing other people hang all over you. I'm damn sick of it!"

"Well you had better get used to it because I have to let them. I have to be polite and I have to find someone to marry. You know pureblood, family name, all that jazz," Scorpius said, his voice slowly taking on a malice he had heard in his father's voice a few too many times. He didn't mean to be harsh, but it was the messed up truth no matter how much he hated it. Albus' heart stopped dead in its tracks, he had forgotten Scorpius would need a legitimate heir, and to have one he'd first need a girlfriend who he loved enough to marry, or if not love at least stand. He could see Kimi in a gorgeous wedding gown, he could see her cradling a baby with Scorpius' eyes and sharp features, and he could see Scorpius kissing her, loving her. It made him feel sick to his stomach and he had to fight down the urge to vomit, "Albus?" Al heard Scorpius say, but for some reason he couldn't think of how to respond, "Al!" He heard, Scorpius sounded more distressed, "Alby?" He heard him yell, almost scream. He looked up at Scorpius. Scorpius looked scared and apologetic, "Are you okay?" He asked, he had never been so concerned about anything or anyone before. Albus never ignored him and he never looked paler. Al nodded.

"Yeah," he croaked. "Just feeling stupid is all." He said as smoothly as he could muster with the lump in his throat and stood up. Scorpius watched him closely.

"You sure, you look like you're about to pass out." Al nodded and walked towards the Malfoy Manor. Scorpius watched Albus before he rolled his eyes and followed his emerald eyed friend inside, "Come back here!" Scorpius called to Albus as he rounded a corner. Al didn't stop till he was in the bedroom that he shared with Scorpius whenever he visited. He stopped just inside the doorway and crumpled, hands fisted into his already messy hair, "Oh Al," Scorpius whispered and sat down behind Albus. He gently wrapped his arms around the teen in front of him and pulled him backwards, "I'm sorry," Scorpius whispered into Al's hair. He meant every word, Albus was the only person he could connect with and the only one he needed in his life. Albus was light to his night, and he was more than certain now that he was the same thing for Albus.

"It's not your fault," Albus responded. He bit his lips together to keep from sobbing, "It isn't your fault Scorp," He went on and then hiccupped.

"Albus it is," Scorpius explained and stopped, he stood up and walked in front of Al and sat down in front of him. He reached out a thin hand and brushed away Al's tears, "Al, I wish I could say yes, but I can't. I hate having to say no, I really do, although because I am the Malfoy heir there's no way I could say yes." Al bit his tongue and looked down.

"I know," he croaked and forced a smile for Scorpius. Scorpius frowned and hugged Albus, "How long have you known?"

"Till just now, but I had suspected and hoped for years." Scorp replied softly, "Before you ask I've liked you since I saw you, I didn't admit to it till sometime during our second year." Hearing those words caused Albus to jerk backwards and look at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Scorpius grinned.

"Wait-What?"

"I like you," Scorpius enunciated slowly and clearly.

"Then- but…." Albus stuttered, "You've had girlfriends, you kissed Kimi!"

"Yeah I did, but that doesn't mean I liked the relationships or the kiss." Scorpius said teasingly.


End file.
